Headlines:.
- No long slide deck handed out to go through slide by slide which worked well.
- Richard had a couple of headline thoughts which lead to discussions and lively debate
- There was a good mix of trading styles in the room which provided views from different perspective
- Willis Owen’s online service the clients average age is 61
- The use of technology is key
- There is now more automation of process
- Larger organisations need to be more prescriptive in their processes than smaller ones
Key challenges:
- Advisers have to accept the changes they should not be fund pickers but focus on being financial planners
- Prices being driven down for all aspects of advice
- Justifying the value of the advice
- Building and retaining the trust of the clients
- How important will it be for advisers to consider the ethical questions when it comes to investments particularly with growing trends of awareness
Conclusions and solutions:
- Richard’s points led to a lively discussion and I made sure everyone was able to express their views, which was quite a challenge considering some of the big characters present. The only exception was the new CEO of Tenet who I did not prompt for a response as I understand he is new to the industry.
- The key was using technology whilst providing high service levels. Client portals are useful for capturing some of the fact find information and for keeping clients up to date.
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Trust can be built up and value demonstrated more effectively by face to face interaction with clients, but technology and automation should be used for smoother processes.
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Open Banking remains an untapped resource for advisers despite the benefits
Expert: Richard Bradley, Platforum
