The news: Truist is investing heavily in its Premier Banking business by hiring advisors and shaping its entry-level wealth management business to attract consumers with at least $100,000 in assets. It steps up the service level at $250,000, funneling them into services for high-net-worth individuals as their assets grow and needs change.

Zoom out: Truist estimates its wealth transfer opportunity to be $600 billion in deposits and $2 trillion in investments. Its megabank peers see the opportunity and are playing the same game: In February, PNC launched Premier Client, a banking and investing service for emerging-affluent consumers. 

As part of the Premier Banking push, Truist teased the idea of experience-based relationship rewards, such as access to its Truist Championship PGA tournament. This strategy would incorporate perks that consumers more likely expect from premium credit cards, resembling Bank of America’s recently refreshed relationship rewards program.

Implications for banks: The perfunctory mass-affluent playbook of giving fee breaks to customers with high account balances attracts and retains deposits, as this cohort’s card spending and balances are huge contributors to banks’ fee income. But fee breaks and cash-back rewards are both widely available and offer little differentiation. Banks with premium, high-annual-fee cards are therefore pushing travel experiences and priority access.

Attracting customers who will benefit from the great wealth transfer requires more than fee discounts or, for entry-level clients, financial advice alone. Banks must demonstrate how they can help customers build the lives they want, either now or after receiving an inheritance. Banks and wealth managers need to market themselves as lifestyle-enablers. Otherwise, they are selling commoditized advice to the mass-affluent that will hardly make a dent in the business opportunity.

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