The next competitive advantage in wealth management may not be offering more products. It may be delivering greater personalisation with less operational complexity.
The global asset management industry is growing. But the economics of that growth are becoming harder to ignore.
A recent Money Management article, drawing on McKinsey’s Asset Management 2026: Plenty for the Few research, highlights a striking trend: global asset management operating costs reached US$250 billion in 2025, up from US$167 billion in 2023. Meanwhile, the cost of generating an additional dollar of revenue rose from 19 cents in 2023 to 52 cents in 2025.
More assets are not necessarily translating into better operating leverage.
One explanation is the growing complexity of the industry. McKinsey describes how:
“Product proliferation, bespoke processes, fragmented data, and layered technology architectures have accumulated into operational debt.”
For asset managers, this complexity comes from expanding product ranges, additional investment wrappers, fragmented distribution and the technology required to support them. Each new product or variation can introduce further systems, processes, reporting requirements and ongoing maintenance.
But this challenge extends well beyond asset management.
Advice firms face the same structural problem
Financial advisers are under increasing pressure to deliver personalised investment solutions while managing costs, regulatory obligations and operational efficiency.
Clients increasingly expect portfolios to reflect their individual circumstances, investment objectives, risk preferences, tax positions and values. Yet delivering that personalisation can mean creating more portfolio variations, managing more holdings, coordinating more systems and introducing additional manual processes.
The result is a difficult trade-off.
Standardised model portfolios can be operationally efficient, but may not adequately accommodate every client's needs. Bespoke portfolios offer greater flexibility, but can introduce complexity and costs that are difficult to sustain at scale.
For advice firms, this can create a version of the same operational debt identified by McKinsey:
Portfolio proliferation: multiple models, client-specific variations and overlapping investment solutions.
Manual implementation: time-consuming portfolio construction, rebalancing and ongoing maintenance.
Fragmented technology: disconnected systems for portfolio management, reporting, implementation and tax considerations.
Limited scalability: each additional layer of personalisation creates more work rather than proportionately greater value.
Technology should make personalisation cheaper, not harder
McKinsey's broader research into technology and asset management identifies a related problem: significant technology investment does not automatically translate into productivity gains. Fragmented systems, legacy infrastructure and duplicated processes can consume resources that might otherwise support innovation and growth.
The answer is not simply to add another technology layer. It is to rethink how investment portfolios are constructed and managed in the first place.
Personalisation should be a capability of the underlying platform, not a separate operating model for every client.
This is where technology-enabled portfolio management can change the economics.
Rather than choosing between standardisation and bespoke implementation, firms can use a common investment infrastructure to support a wider range of client outcomes. The objective is to retain the efficiency of a repeatable process while allowing the portfolio itself to reflect individual requirements.
How Briefcase approaches the problem
Briefcase is built around the idea that investment personalisation and operational efficiency should reinforce one another.
1. Multi-asset ETF portfolios without product bias
Briefcase supports multi-asset model portfolios using ETFs, providing advisers with a systematic way to construct and manage diversified investment solutions without requiring a separate bespoke investment process for every client. Its approach is not restricted to house products or a vertically integrated product range.
2. Direct indexing that makes customisation scalable
Direct indexing allows portfolios of individual securities to be constructed around a chosen index, with the flexibility to accommodate client-specific requirements. Rather than treating every variation as a wholly separate portfolio-management exercise, technology can support customisation within a repeatable framework.
3. Tax-aware portfolio management
Where appropriate, direct indexing can also support tax-aware portfolio management by identifying investment and rebalancing opportunities that take a client's tax position into account, subject to their individual circumstances and implementation constraints. This brings tax considerations into the portfolio-management process rather than treating them solely as an afterthought.
4. A more systematic approach to implementation
By using technology to support portfolio construction and ongoing management, Briefcase aims to reduce the operational burden associated with delivering tailored investment solutions. The goal is to make personalisation more repeatable and scalable, without assuming that every client needs an entirely separate investment process.
From operational debt to operating leverage
The broader lesson from McKinsey's research is that scale alone does not guarantee efficiency. Growth can magnify the weaknesses of an operating model just as easily as it magnifies its strengths.
For wealth managers, the same principle applies. Adding more models, more portfolio variations and more manual work is not necessarily a sustainable way to deliver better client outcomes.
A more effective approach is to build the infrastructure once and use it to support many different client requirements.
That means distinguishing between complexity that creates client value and complexity that simply creates work.
Personalisation is valuable when it improves the relevance of a portfolio to the individual investor. It is less valuable when the operational cost of delivering it erodes the benefit.
Briefcase's ambition is to help close that gap: combining diversified ETF portfolios, direct indexing and tax-aware investment technology to make tailored portfolio management more accessible and operationally scalable.
The future is unlikely to be a choice between one-size-fits-all portfolios and expensive bespoke solutions.
It is an opportunity to deliver more individualised investment outcomes through better-designed technology.
The goal isn't less personalisation. It's less complexity in delivering it.
Sources: Money Management, “Asset managers urged to cut product ranges as operating costs jump 52%” (29 October 2026); McKinsey & Company, “Asset Management 2026: Plenty for the Few” and “How AI could reshape the economics of the asset management industry”.
This article provides general information only and does not consider any person’s objectives, financial situation or needs. It is not financial product advice, a recommendation, or an offer or solicitation in relation to any financial product. Briefcase Pty Limited, AFSL 546257.