Automate client reporting

Advisers are turning client reporting into a weekly product: automated updates, cleaner dashboards, and fewer raw performance tables. (sec.gov) The pitch showing up on social platforms is simple: build a polished dashboard, schedule summaries to send automatically, and show each client the metrics tied to their role or goals instead of a dense return sheet. The model relies on low-cost software and artificial intelligence tools that can draft and deliver recurring updates with limited manual work. (x.com; x.com) That idea lands in a market where digital channels have become a core client touchpoint. J.D. Power said on November 21, 2024, that wealth management clients increasingly expect websites and apps to provide tailored guidance, not just account access and basic design. (jdpower.com) J.D. Power found that 70% of full-service apps and 75% of full-service websites delivered basic functionality, but only 18% of full-service apps delivered what it called a “valuable” experience with proactive guidance, goal setting, and help reaching goals. That gap helps explain why advisers are treating reporting design as a service feature rather than back-office paperwork. (jdpower.com) The timing also lines up with a generational shift in wealth management. Capgemini’s World Wealth Report 2025 said $83.5 trillion is expected to pass to Gen X, millennial, and Gen Z heirs by 2048, and said those next-generation high-net-worth clients prefer digital engagement and value-added services. (capgemini.com) For firms, the reporting push is not only a design project. The Securities and Exchange Commission’s marketing rule, adopted on December 22, 2020, governs adviser advertisements and performance information, and the agency says registered advisers that disseminate advertisements must follow it. (sec.gov) The rule draws a line between one-on-one client communications and broader advertisements, and it puts special conditions on hypothetical performance. That means an auto-sent report can create compliance questions if it includes projections, model outputs, or performance slices without the right context and records. (sec.gov) Broker-dealers face a parallel set of communication rules. Financial Industry Regulatory Authority Rule 2210 sits inside the group’s communications-with-the-public framework, which governs how member firms present information to investors. (finra.org) The reporting trend, then, is moving on two tracks at once: advisers want software that can turn portfolio data into regular, readable updates, and regulators still expect those updates to be fair, balanced, and documented. The firms that automate the send still own the message. (sec.gov; finra.org)