Clients and staff are among the biggest threat to wealth management firms’ cybersecurity efforts, a specialist on the subject has said.

Ed Carey, chief commercial officer at investor services firm Multrees, said that while the topic often conjured up images of “hackers sitting in a basement thinking up evil things to do to our businesses”, the real threat was much closer to home.

“Part of the reason why our people pose such a big risk is because the attacks themselves are becoming increasingly personal in nature,” Mr Carey told the PAM Annual Operations Dinner this month.

“The methods are becoming ...