One in 10 advisers switch dealers
Remuneration levels, reasonably priced professional indemnity insurance, good training facilities, product research and technical support are the five top conditions financial planners looked for from their dealer group last year.
And dealerships that didn’t provide such services found their advisers didn’t stay for long. The latest WA Taylor Dealership Service Report found 10 per cent of the 921 advisers from 91 dealerships it surveyed changed group last year.
Overall, advisers were happier with the level of service they got from their dealership across 20 performance factors, which also included dealership service fees and compliance services, than they have been at any time in the report’s four-year history.
All 20 factors were combined to give an overall score, which worked out at 72 for 2005, two points higher than last year, and 5 points higher than in 2003.
“Our interpretation of this trend is that dealerships are progressively improving their understandingof what advisers need from the licensees,” said WA Taylor operations manager Peter Driscoll.
The performance factor to experience the greatest increase in importance in 2005 was compliance audit services.
“That was a major role dealerships have played in recent years, particularly in FSR [Financial Services Reform] transition,” Driscoll said.
Respondents rated Aon Financial Planning as the nation’s top dealership in 2005. WA Taylor could not provide ratings of other groups for confidentiality reasons.
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