Financial wealth in the UK grew by 7% in 2019-20 compared to 5% for Western Europe, according to a new report.

According to Boston Consulting Group’s (BCG) new global wealth report, global financial wealth rose by 8.3% in 2020 to reach an all time high of $250trn, despite the impact of the Coronavirus pandemic. Global cash savings and deposits grew by 10.6% in comparison to 2019, the largest increase in 20 years.

The UK represented 18.7% of the Western European’s financial wealth, with Germany representing 16.8% and France 14.5%. However, BCG predicts that Western Europe will generate more wealth than the UK by 2025.

However, the UK is behind Germany in investible wealth and real assets. The UK is third in Western Europe for investible wealth with $0.7trn. Real assets, primarily led by property, only grew by 1% in the UK in comparison to 5% in Germany.

According to the report, consumers over 65 and those with uncomplicated investment needs and financial wealth between $100,000 and $3m were overlooked by wealth managers in 2020 despite owning $29.3trn and $59trn in financial assets respectively.

The report added that in order to harness the opportunity offered by those with uncomplicated investment needs, wealth managers need to think and act like a technology company. It added that as well as enabling wealth managers to offer uncomplicated needs clients greater portfolio customisation, a strong digital model can also boost market capitalization, enabling wealth managers to achieve multiples similar to those that tech companies enjoy.

Individuals with personal wealth exceeding $100m grew 9% year on year since 2015, with 6,000 joining the existing 60,000 individuals in 2020. The category now holds a combined $22 trillion in investable wealth, 15% of the world’s total investable wealth.

The report added that wealth managers need to become more customer centric if they are to take full advantage of what the next five years have to offer.

BCG said: “Although banks and related advisory institutions have  talked for years about being client led, most continue to  view the world as they always have, seeing clients primarily  through the prism of products and serving them as a collection of wallets. By turning the lens around, wealth managers can access revenue pools that they’ve been missing out on for years.

“To succeed, they must shake up their current ways of  working and digitize their business models, enabling  cross-functional teaming and realigning roles, performance  measurement, and incentives.

“Those that adapt their operating model to put clients at the center and fully  adjust their processes and ways of working can turn the next five years into a period of unprecedented prosperity.”