Regulatory changes and the constant spotlight on the industry have meant the financial advice sector has focused on the past and present, rather than looking into the future.
Such is the opinion of Deloitte Assurance and Advisory partner elect, Andy Abeya, who observed that there is some confusion around how organisations will be perceived in the future.
He said some financial services organisations only adapt and change when there are new regulations.
“Regulations are important, but where you’re only triggered to change as a result of regulation, that’s where you’ll find yourself falling behind other organisations, which are taking a much stronger, customer-focused view,” Abeya said.
Financial advice follows a one-size-fits-all model at present but Abeya foresees abundant opportunity for advisers to tailor their advice to every customer.
Only one in every 10 people is prepared to pay for financial advice at present but Abeya expects this to increase if the industry aims to provide more tailored solutions.
Organisations will differentiate themselves from their competitors by becoming more specialised in their offering.
“One of the trends we’ll expect to see is that advisers will be teaming up with one another to focus on the needs of one particular client, where today it seems to be much more of a one-to-one interaction,” Abeya said.
“So you have some advisers who are specialists around a particular area so it might be around self-managed super funds or it might be around debt management. Then you have those advisers who are more at the hub of the relationship, where they can bring on the specialists that they need.”
