Special report profeSSional ServiceS
Are you being served?
The job of an IFA is becoming
ever more complicated.
Whether based in a mature
financial services market
such as the UK or a relative
newcomer like Dubai,
a combination of tighter
regulation and compliance,
need for more comprehensive
due diligence, the
increasing sophistication
of products and greater
demands of increasingly
discerning clients are combining
to create an unprecedented
drain on advisers’
time and resources.
Add to this the global
financial crisis – which
cannot have failed to impact
on a host of critical areas of
advisory businesses, particularly
revenues based on
assets under management
– and it is clear financial
advisers are operating in a
testing environment.
While there is no single
silver bullet for dealing
with these challenges, help
is at hand from a range
of external sources and
service providers who can
help IFAs create leaner,
more profitable and efficient
businesses. In the
following pages, service
and product providers talk
about how they can make
advisers’ lives easier.
l Going, going, gone
The verdict of Phil Billingham,
director of IFA practice
management consultant
Perception Support
leaves little doubt as to
where he believes advis
ers add value: “The days
of being gatekeeper to
products, if not already
gone, are certainly going.
All you need to do to
find information on
an investment is to use
Google; the value is no
longer in the product but
the relationship, the trusted
adviser status.”
Billingham, who has
advised IFA firms in the
UK, US, South Africa
and Ireland, as well as
speaking at MillionDollar
Roundtable and chartered
financial planner
events, believes advisers
must adapt their business
models in order to survive
in an environment where
investors place more value
on service than being the
first at the golf club to have
the latest widget fund.
“If you are picking
funds, where does the
value come from? Financial
planning is essentially life
planning; tax, longterm
savings for large outlays
such as houses or school
fees. Fund picking is not
part of that and if you
sell yourself as a fund
picker, you must demonstrate
you are consistently
adding value above any
model portfolios a client
can easily get.
“What happens when
you fail to beat the market,
as you inevitably will?
The client will not want to
pay you.”
According to Shannon
Currie, another director of
Perception Support, advis
feature
In this eight-page special report, International Adviser looks at the range of professional
services that are available to intermediaries, and how they can maximise the benefits
they offer to navigate these turbulent economic times
ers need to sit down and
carefully analyse their businesses
to ensure the image
meets the reality.
“Most advisers have got
where they are more by
accident than design,” she
says. “Rarely do they stop
to see if how they operate
tallies with how they
market themselves.
“If you are a financial
planning firm but everything
you have got is transactional,
then clearly something
is not right.
“Businesses need a core
proposition, such as being
a pension specialist or high
net worth adviser. If you
are the former, investment
will not be your speciality
but if it is HNW, more
sophisticated investment
advice will be needed.
This may sound simple but
many advisers do not take
time to consider how they
are positioned.”
l A time to spend
Amanda Baines, director
of Gholdenphish, which
focuses on helping financial
services firms build
effective management and
sales teams, believes advisers
should take the opportunity
in these slower
markets to reassess their
operations.
“At times like this it is
common for businesses to
slash all budgets for external
consultants, but this
can be a false economy,”
she says. “Sometimes when
businesses are thriving
there is no time to focus
on making sure the foundations
and structure of the
company are sound.
“The irony is that in
a recession when things
are less frantic, firms have
more time but are less
willing to allocate budget
to this important aspect
of management. Yet this
investment is what can
help you make sure you
run more efficiently now
May 2009 [www.international-adviser.com] INTERNaTIONaL aDVISER
27
To view a Ceros magazine you need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser and have the flash player 8 or higher installed. To install the latest flash player, click the icon above, install the flash plugin and then click here to refresh this page.