Nearly 6 in 10 wealth managers are turning away clients who fall below their minimum investment level with more adopting this strategy as costs rise and fees fall.

The average wealth manager is turning away 72 clients a year, with 33% saying they have had to turn away more potential clients in the last 12 months than they did three years ago.

Just 2% of wealth managers are turning away fewer potential clients, while 49% say that the number has not altered, according to new research from Nucoro, a B2B fintech providing wealth management services.

A fifth (20%) of wealth managers will allow clients with assets of less than £10,000 to invest but the majority (71%) now have a minimum investment of £50,000. Some 11% of wealth managers now insist on an investment of at least £250,000.

Overall the average minimum investment per client is £115,000.

Source: Nucoro

Nikolai Hack, UK managing director of Nucoro, said: “Wealth managers are facing growing costs through increased regulation and compliance issues and margins are also coming under pressure as fees fall. 

“This means more wealth managers are choosing to only work with clients with larger investment portfolios and this is adding to a growing ‘advice gap’, where retail investors are finding it harder to secure the help they need to manage their investments. Greater digitisation will help wealth managers reduce their costs, improve their offerings and take on more clients.”

• Nucoro commissioned a market research company to interview 53 wealth managers during September.