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EMOTIONAL SKILLS: A STRATEGIC ASSET IN WEALTH MANAGEMENT

13.10.2025 / by Livia Bühlmann, Portfolio Manager (Geneva)

« Anybody can become angry – that is easy, but to be angry with the right person,
to the right degree, at the right time, for the right purpose, and in the right way –
that is not within everybody’s power and is not easy. » – Aristotle

 

When it comes to wealth management, technical skills are of course indispensable. However, beyond financial models and macroeconomic analysis, this profession is based on a profound human reality: emotions, both those of the client and those of the advisor.

Wealth management means helping people to make decisions that have a strong emotional impact: family succession, inheritance, financial losses, or periods of crisis. These situations require the advisor to have a high degree of Emotional Competence (EC) to maintain trust, support commitment and promote informed choices, even in moments of uncertainty1, 2, 3 (bibliography at the end of the newsletter).

 

The benefits of Emotional Competence:

Numerous scientific studies have shown that a high level of EC is associated with:

  • Better physical and psychological health 4, 5;
  • More effective coping strategies in the face of stress 6, 7;
  • Better emotional regulation 8;
  • Lower risk of burnout 9.

 

Five key competencies

ECs can be broken down into five fundamental skills 10:

  1. Identification (emotional perception): the ability to detect one’s own emotions and those of others.
    • Spotting that a customer is expressing concern or distrust, even if they don’t verbalize it.
  2. Comprehension (cognitive processing of emotions): understanding the causes and consequences of emotions.
    • Understand that a customer’s market anxiety may be exacerbated by life transitions (divorce, inheritance, retirement).
  3. Expression (appropriate emotional communication): express emotions appropriately and allow others to do the same.
    • Express one’s point of view assertively without generating tension, while encouraging the client to express his or her concerns.
  4. Regulation (self-regulation and interpersonal management): modulate the intensity and duration of emotions to maintain relational balance 11.
    • Contain one’s own reactivity to a customer’s intense emotional reaction (anger, frustration) to preserve a framework for constructive exchange.
  5. Use: use emotions as a guide to decision-making.
    • Use feelings to identify the right moment to broach a sensitive subject (e.g. estate planning).

These skills are interconnected and can be developed and reinforced throughout life, notably through training, experience and self-reflection.

 

The five emotional regulation strategies:

Of the five ECs 10, Emotional Regulation (ER) is central to stress management and the quality of interactions. ER corresponds to « the processes by which individuals influence what emotions they have, when they have them, and how they experience and express them » 11.

Each individual can use strategies to modify his or her emotional states 12, of which the five main ones have been identified:

  1. Situation selection: avoiding or seeking out certain situations to manage emotional impact. Remember that even unpleasant emotions have an informative and adaptive value 13.
  2. Situation modification: act to transform the situation to reduce its emotional impact.
  3. Attentional deployment: redirecting attention to certain elements of the context to modulate the emotion felt.
  4. Cognitive change: changing the way you perceive a situation to reduce its emotional impact (cognitive re-evaluation).
  5. Response modulation: intervene after the emotional trigger, by acting on physiological or behavioral reactions (e.g. breathing, tone of voice).

A lever for well-being and performance

While ECs are not the only factors in overall well-being and balance, they do play a key role in managing stress, reducing negative emotions and stimulating positive ones.

In a business where performance depends as much on emotional stability as on the quality of human relations, they are a genuine strategic lever. They preserve the personal equilibrium of the professional while strengthening customer satisfaction, loyalty and trust. Finally, they remind us that wealth management, beyond the numbers, is also an invitation to reconnect with oneself in order to better interact with others.

 

« Who looks outside, dreams; who looks inside, awakes » – Carl Jung 14

 

 

EMOTIONAL SKILLS: numbered bibliography

  1. Kaufman, R. (2021, 24 mai). Emotional rescue: Why emotional intelligence matters in wealth advising and in life. Wealthspire Advisors. https://www.wealthspire.com/blog/emotional-rescue-why-emotional-intelligence-matters-wealth-advising-life/
  2. eMoney Advisor. (2022, 17 février). The value of emotional intelligence in financial planning relationships. https://emoneyadvisor.com/blog/the-value-of-emotional-intelligence-in-financial-planning-relationships/
  3. Client Associates. (2023). The role of emotional intelligence in wealth management: Fostering strong client relationships. https://clientassociates.com/scholarly/the-role-of-emotional-intelligence-in-wealth-management-fostering-strong-client-relationships/
  4. Malouff, J. M., Schutte, N. S., & Thorsteinsson, E. B. (2013). Trait Emotional Intelligence and Romantic Relationship Satisfaction: A Meta-Analysis. The American Journal of Family Therapy, 42(1), 53–66. https://doi.org/10.1080/01926187.2012.748549
  5. Mikolajczak, M., Avalosse, H., Vancorenland, S., Verniest, R., Callens, M., van Broeck, N., Fantini-Hauwel, C., & Mierop, A. (2015). A nationally representative study of emotional competence and health. Emotion, 15(5), 653–667. https://doi.org/10.1037/emo0000034
  6. Gabbott, M., Tsarenko, Y., & Wai Hoe Mok. (2010). Emotional Intelligence as a Moderator of Coping Strategies and Service Outcomes in Circumstances of Service Failure. Journal of Service Research, 14(2), 234–248. https://doi.org/10.1177/1094670510391078
  7. Matthews, G., Emo, A. K., Funke, G., Zeidner, M., Roberts, R. D., Costa, P. T., & Schulze, R. (2006). Emotional intelligence, personality, and task-induced stress. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Applied, 12(2), 96–107. https://doi.org/10.1037/1076-898x.12.2.96
  8. Mayer, J. D., Roberts, R. D., & Barsade, S. G. (2008). Human Abilities: Emotional Intelligence. Annual Review of Psychology, 59(1), 507–536. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev.psych.59.103006.093646
  9. Jung Lee, H. (2018). Influence de l’intelligence émotionnelle sur la satisfaction au travail et sur le syndrome d’épuisement professionnel dans les emplois du secteur public. Revue Internationale des Sciences Administratives, 84(4), 755–771. https://doi.org/10.3917/risa.844.0755
  10. Mikolajczak, M., Quoidbach, J., Kotsou, I., & Nelis, D. (2020). Les compétences émotionnelles. Dunod.
  11. Gross, J. J. (1998). The Emerging Field of Emotion Regulation: An Integrative Review. Review of General Psychology, 2(3), 271–299. https://doi.org/10.1037/1089-2680.2.3.271
  12. Gross, J. J., Richards, J. M., & John, O. P. (2006). Emotion Regulation in Everyday Life. In Emotion regulation in couples and families: Pathways to dysfunction and health (pp. 13–35).
  13. Linehan, M. M. (1993). Cognitive-Behavioral Treatment of Borderline Personality Disorder. Guilford Press.
  14. Jung, C. G. (2008). Psychological Reflections: A New Anthology of His Writings 1905–1961 (J. Jacobi, Éd.; R. F. C. Hull, Trad.). Princeton University Press.