In her first industry-facing event since departing Bank of America Merrill Lynch, Sallie Krawcheck took to the stage of the annual SIFMA conference to discuss the state of wealth management and much more.

There are still real risks and challenges for the wealth management industry, Krawcheck told television talk show host Charlie Rose who interviewed her before the SIFMA audience.

“Clients continue to like, trust and admire their financial advisors,” said the former head of global wealth management at BofA Merrill Lynch. In fact, client trust with their advisors has returned to the levels they were at before the financial crisis of 2008, she added. And the percentage of advisors losing clients remains in the low single-digits for any given year, she said.

Sallie Krawcheck

The problem is that clients were disappointed with the advisors’ financial institutions, Krawcheck said. She criticized the industry for focusing only on market returns and not talking about planning, asset allocation and liquidity management. She pointed out those existing clients -- when polled -- are seeking advisors who help them plan for the future and return their phone calls. “They don’t feel like they’re being heard,” she said.

However, there are specific groups that are being underserved by the wealth management industry, specifically women and the younger generation. “Our industry does not do a great job for women” and it is not seen as appropriate for the next generation, Krawcheck said. Today, the average age of a client is approximately 63 years old, she said. Young, potential customers are being scared off by the headlines that trumpet the volatility of the markets and the Wall Street scandals that have dampened their trust.

Rose asked Krawcheck about her career as both a woman and as one of the top-ranking executives in the financial services industry. She recounted how she recently visited Harvard University to speak to a group of female undergraduate business majors there. “I kept wanting to say I’m sorry,” she said.

She thought that in 25 years there would have been more progress but women appear to be stuck at 15% of senior management and 15% of corporate boards on Wall Street and as much as only 16% to 18% of women financial advisors. 

She noted that some of the reasons are biological with women giving up some career advancement when they take time off to have children.

But she also noted: “We on Wall Street have had a culture of crisis.” And that leads companies to choose people with the same viewpoints, “rather than having a diverse team.” she said. “I’m not talking about gender or color.” Instead, she pointed to “a broad range of perspectives” in other business disciplines.  

Frances McMorris was named editor-in-chief of ON WALL STREET in February 2008, after serving as executive editor since December 2004. She also created and serves as the host of AdvisorTV, an online video interview show appearing at onwallstreet.com.

From indictments to verdicts and appeals, Ms. McMorris has covered many major, high-profile cases in both federal and state courts as a legal affairs reporter for The Wall Street Journal, The New York Daily News, Newsday and The New York Law Journal. The cases that she has covered include: the seditious conspiracy trial of Sheik Oman Abdel Rahman, the blind Egyptian cleric convicted of being the spiritual mastermind of the 1993 World Trade Center; the constitutional battle over the “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” military policy; the Crown Heights riot murder trial; federal racketeering cases against violent gangs; the Long Island pet cemetery trial and several securities fraud and insider trading cases, among others.

The legal issues she has written about are diverse and numerous, ranging from economic espionage to employment discrimination rulings and the first story to report that there is no expectation of privacy for employee emails written in the workplace.

Ms. McMorris is a 1993 graduate of Fordham University School of Law and admitted to the New York and New Jersey bars. She has appeared on the former CNNfn to give expert commentary on trials.

She also served as president of the Newswomen’s Club of New York for three years while working as an assistant managing editor at The Daily Deal in New York.

ON WALL STREET magazine has a circulation of more than 90,000—reaching financial advisors and brokers at the most prestigious brokerage firms who serve high-net-worth and ultra-high-net-worth investors.