Table of Contents
- CHAPTER 1 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
- Market Context
- IFA technology
- IFAs' changing attitudes to the customer interface
- IFAs' changing attitudes to the provider interface
- The Future Decoded
- CHAPTER 2 MARKET CONTEXT
- Key findings
- Introduction
- Characteristics of the financial advice market survey
- The sample of financial advisors
- Network members accounted for over a third of the surveyed panelists
- The average financial advisor is male and over the age of 30
- Almost three quarters of financial advisor business comes from the
mass affluent market
- Cautious optimism prevails among most financial advisors
- Around half of surveyed IFAs expect limited growth over the next six
months
- A stable market is predicted for most products over the next six months
- ISAs and SIPPs are predicted to see the most growth
- IFAs predict static sales in most non-SIPP pension and protection
products
- With-profits bond sales will continue to fall
- Overall the IFA attitude towards providers is encouraging
- Mutual fund providers are rated more positively by financial advisors
than life companies
- Skandia is the most popular insurance provider by a significant margin
- Financial advisors are beginning to make the move towards fee-based
business
- Over 90% of IFAs participate in some type of fee-based business
- Protection products attract the lowest proportion of fee-based business
- Existing customers are the most lucrative for IFAs
- However, the majority of IFAs spend little time on client recruitment
- Data
- CHAPTER 3 IFA TECHNOLOGY
- Key Findings
- IFAs' use of technology has increased since 2004 but the changes are
largely cosmetic
- Over 50% of IFAs have updated their technology within the last 2 years
- IFAs prefer simplistic operating systems
- IFAs internet usage has improved and extended to incorporate more
sophisticated functions
- Over two thirds of IFAs still store their data using paper copies
- There remains a proportion of IFAs who continue to avoid basic
technology
- The majority of IFAs have no plans to invest further in technology
- IFA technology support and online usage has improved since 2004
- IFAs' online time is mainly used to investigate new products
- The Exchange has remained the favourite website of IFAs since 2004
- IFAs methods of dealing with technological problems remains largely
unchanged since 2004
- IFAs are losing less time over technological problems than they were
in 2004
- Data
- CHAPTER 4 IFAS' CHANGING ATTITUDES TO THE CUSTOMER INTERFACE
- Key Findings
- IFA communication with clients is becoming more sophisticated
- Email is becoming the most popular method for IFAs to communicate with
clients
- IFAs' online presence is impressive but superficial
- IFAs without websites primarily see online presence as unnecessary
- The threat of direct providers
- IFAs continue to see the biggest competition coming from direct
providers of term life assurance
- There are minimal threats from direct providers in other areas
- Data
- CHAPTER 5 IFAS' CHANGING ATTITUDES TO THE PROVIDER INTERFACE
- Key Findings
- Communication with providers is becoming more technology-friendly but
has a long way to go
- Telephone contact is still the most common way for IFAs to communicate
with providers, but email is catching up
- IFAs continue to make heavy use of portals and use of fund
supermarkets is increasing
- IFAs anticipate strong growth in electronic submissions
- IFAs' provider concerns
- Offering a wide range and fast payments are the most important factors
when choosing a provider site
- Security and stability of provider sites are the biggest IFA concerns
- Data
- CHAPTER 6 THE FUTURE DECODED: IFA TECHNOLOGY IN 2010
- Key Findings
- 95% of IFAs will have an internet presence by 2010
- IFAs will have to begin integrating technology into their core business
proposition in order to survive
- Increasing levels of IT support will support higher levels of
electronic submissions
- Approximately 75% of total IFA business by revenue will be submitted
online in 2010
- IFAs will continue to invest in technology
- CHAPTER 7 APPENDIX
- Supplementary Data: 2004 Survey Results
- Definitions
- Definitions of IFA firm types
- Portal
- Extranet
- Further readings
- Financial Advice Market Briefs
- Interactive Databases
- Reports and Briefs
- SPP writing team
- How to contact experts in your industry
- List of Tables
- Table 1: Does more than 50% of your customer base have assets of over
£200,000/below £30,000?
- Table 2: Over the next six months how do you expect sales in each of
the following products to change?
- Table 3: What is your attitude to the following providers?
- Table 4: What proportion of your business is fee based in each of the
following areas?
- Table 5: What proportion of financial advisor working time is spent on
the following activities?
- Table 6: Which of the following best describes your company?
- Table 7: Does more than 50% of your customer base have total liquid
assets of over £200,000?
- Table 8: Does more than 50% of your customer base have total liquid
assets of below £30,000?
- Table 9: Over the next six months how do you expect sales in each of
the following products to change?
- Table 10: What is your attitude to the following insurers?
- Table 11: What is your attitude to the following mutual fund providers?
- Table 12: Do you have any fee-based business?
- Table 13: Approximately what percentage of your annual turnover comes
from fee-based business?
- Table 14: What proportion of your business is fee based in each of the
following areas?
- Table 15: I believe in the next 6 months the IFA market will:
- Table 16: What proportion of your revenues comes from customers that
are?
- Table 17: What proportion of financial advisor working time is spent
on the following activities?
- Table 18: What proportion of your active online time is spent doing
the following activities?
- Table 19: Top ten favourite IFA related websites, 2006
- Table 20: Top five favourite IFA related websites, 2004
- Table 21: Do you have a PC and if so what year did you or your company
purchase it?
- Table 22: Do you know what operating system you use?
- Table 23: Do you know what Internet browser you use?
- Table 24: Do you have Internet access at work, if so what bandwidth
Internet access do you have?
- Table 25: How do you store data relating to your business?
- Table 26: What telephone technology do you use?
- Table 27: What are your plans (if any) to update the technology you
use over the next two years?
- Table 28: What proportion of your active online time is spent doing
the following activities?
- Table 29: Top ten favourite IFA related websites, 2006
- Table 30: How do you deal with technological problems?
- Table 31: Please estimate how much IFA time has been lost per adviser
on technological issues in the last six months?
- Table 32: Approximately what proportion of your communication with
your customers is through the following channels?
- Table 33: How would you summarise your company website?
- Table 34: Approximately what proportion of your communication with
your customers is through the following channels?
- Table 35: How would you summarise your company website?
- Table 36: If you do not have a website please state why?
- Table 37: To what extent do you consider product providers a threat?
- Table 38: Which of the following portals/ fund supermarkets/ wraps do
you utilise?
- Table 39: How important are the following factors in encouraging you
to use a provider' s site/portal?
- Table 40: What is your preferred method of dealing with product
providers?
- Table 41: Approximately what proportion of your communication with
product providers is through the following channels?
- Table 42: Which of the following do you/will you utilise?
- Table 43: How often do you use the following provider portals/sites?
- Table 44: What percentage of transactions do you estimate you submit/
will submit electronically to your product providers?
- Table 45: How important are the following factors in encouraging you
to use a provider
- Table 46: Which of the following issues connected to electronic
communication with product providers concern you?
- Table 47: Do you have a PC and if so, in what year was it purchased?
- Table 48: What operating system and internet browser do you use?
- Table 49: Do you have internet access at work, if so what bandwidth
access do you have?
- Table 50: If you have any plans to update the technology you use in
the next two years can you tell us what they are?
- Table 51: How do you store data relating to your business?
- Table 52: How do you deal with technological problems?
- Table 53: Type of IT support versus size of business
- Table 54: Please estimate how much IFA time has been lost per advisor
on technological issues in the last six months
- Table 55: What proportion of your active online time is spent doing
the following activities
- Table 56: What telephone technology do you use?
- Table 57: Approximately what proportion of your communication with
your customers is through the following channels
- Table 58: How would you summarize your company' s website for customers?
- Table 59: If you do not have a website please state why
- Table 60: To what extent do you consider product providers' websites
selling products as a threat to your business?
- Table 61: Approximately what proportion of your communication with
product providers is through the following channels?
- Table 62: What proportion of transactions do you estimate you
submit/will submit electronically to your product providers?
- Table 63: Which of the following do you utilize?
- Table 64: Which of the following portals/fund supermarkets/wraps do
you utilize?
- Table 65: How important are the following factors in encouraging you
to use a provider' s site/portal?
- Table 66: To what extent do the following issues connected to
electronic communication with product providers concern you?
- List of Figures
- Figure 1: Network members account for the most surveyed panelists
- Figure 2: 90% of surveyed financial advisors were male
- Figure 3: Over 95% of IFAs were over the age of 30
- Figure 4: 50% of surveyed advisors predict limited growth over the
next six months
- Figure 5: Almost 90% of financial advisors participate in some form of
fee-based business
- Figure 6: Most IFAs conduct less than 20% of their business on a fee
basis
- Figure 7: Most IFAs gain under 30% of their business from new customers
- Figure 8: Do you have a PC and if so, what year was it purchased?
- Figure 9: Microsoft is the most popular system for IFAs
- Figure 10: The vast majority of IFAs access the internet through a
broadband connection
- Figure 11: Internet technology was less sophisticated in 2004
- Figure 12: How do you store data relating to your business? (2006)
- Figure 13: How do you store data relating to your business? (2004)
- Figure 14: Most IFAs use voicemail as opposed to other forms of
telephone technology
- Figure 15: What telephone technology do you use? (2004)
- Figure 16: More than half of surveyed financial advisors have no plans
to update technology
- Figure 17: Most IFAs outsource technical support in 2006
- Figure 18: How do you deal with technological problems? (2004)
- Figure 19: IFAs are losing less time over technological problems in
2006
- Figure 20: Approximately what proportion of your communication with
your customers is through the following channels? (2004)
- Figure 21: Most IFA websites simply describe the company and services
offered
- Figure 22: IFAs without a website no longer see it as a top priority
- Figure 23: Most IFAs do not view direct providers as a threat to their
commoditized product area
- Figure 24: Less than 10% of IFAs see direct providers as a major
threat to their non-commoditized business
- Figure 25: Almost half of IFAs continue to use the telephone to
contact providers
- Figure 26: Approximately what proportion of your communication with
product providers is through the following channels? (2004)
- Figure 27: Most IFAs use portals of some kind
- Figure 28: Term Assurance will see particularly strong growth in
electronic submissions
- Figure 29: Security of provider sites is IFAs biggest concern
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