Banking groups operating in Emerging Markets can take lessons from South Africa and Brazil when it comes to building out profitable wealth management offerings.
This is according to recent research released by Boston Consulting Group (BCG) as part of its 26th edition of the firms Global Wealth Report entitled: “The Great Reordering”
South Africa and Brazil which are today among the more sophisticated wealth management markets in their respective regions built their ecosystems from a similar starting point: Namely deposit focused banking systems with thin investment offerings and revenues driven largely by lending. The transformation tracked the maturation of local capital markets. As the investable universe broadened, banks had something beyond deposits to offer clients, and the distribution scale of banks gave those markets a retail channel.
The report notes: “The co-evolution of banks and capital markets is what made it work, and the pattern it produced is consistent enough to serve as a practical template for markets at an earlier stage.”
Emerging markets will create the next wave of millionaires
“The most attractive segment for wealth managers is the affluent and emerging high-net-worth (HNW) tier, broadly defined as clients with $250,000 to $5 million in investable assets. In emerging markets, this group is large, growing fast, and structurally underserved”
Emerging markets are expected to add nearly $7 trillion in financial wealth by 2030, led by India, Brazil, and Mexico. The affluent-and-above segment, individuals with more than $250,000 in financial wealth, is forecast to grow 8% annually across these markets, creating more than one million new millionaires by the end of the decade.
The report argues that this client segment remains structurally underserved. Many international wealth managers are retreating toward ultra-high-net-worth clients because of rising compliance costs and tighter cross-border requirements, leaving local banks and independent wealth managers with an opportunity to expand.
Retail and corporate banks in emerging markets are particularly well positioned because they already hold the majority of client deposits and maintain trusted local relationships. However, BCG notes that many institutions still rely on deposit-focused service models that have not evolved into full wealth-management propositions.
In contrast, the institutions that capture clients now, as wealth creation accelerates, will be best placed to deepen those relationships as financial sophistication follows. This will provide early-mover advantage into the wealth management segment.
To achieve this, BCG recommends the following 5 steps:
- Anchor the proposition in trust. In markets where investment culture is still developing, clients need to feel confident that their bank is acting in their interest. Safety, transparency, and institutional credibility are what move clients from deposits to investments and what newer, faster-moving competitors find difficult to replicate at scale.
- Redesign incentives around investment growth. The structural bias toward deposit collection is one of the most persistent obstacles to change. Shifting toward fee-generating, off-balance-sheet investment growth requires deliberate redesign of frontline incentives and sustained commitment from senior leadership.
- Define the target segment sharply. Upper affluent and High Net Worth clients want something meaningfully different from standard retail banking. The proposition needs to reflect that clearly, built around converting the existing client base rather than chasing new relationships.
- Invest seriously in relationship managers. Moving from product sales to advisory requires significant upskilling, better tooling, and incentive alignment around assets under management. Retail relationship managers referring their best clients to dedicated wealth units also need to remain adequately incentivized. Without that, the referral model breaks down
- Continuously build out the product shelf and digital experience. A curated investment offering supported by strong digital journeys – onboarding, risk profiling, suitability, portfolio monitoring – is the operational backbone of a scalable wealth management business, and one that needs to keep pace with rising client expectations and a maturing market.
Other key insights from the Global Wealth Report
The 2026 edition of the report provides unique perspectives for both developed and emerging markets including the top key insights:
- Global financial wealth rose 10.7% to $333 trillion in 2025, the fastest growth since 2021
- AI-first wealth managers could unlock 25%–30% capacity gains and increase revenue per advisor by 15%–20%
- Western Europe posted the strongest major-market growth at 15.3%, supported by favourable currency movements and high household savings rates
- North American wealth growth slowed to 7.4%, with gains concentrated among a narrow group of large technology companies.
- Mainland China’s financial wealth rose 15% in 2025 and is projected to grow 9% annually through 2030.
A full copy of the report is available for download here.
