Planners fail online test

Financial planners are failing to take advantage of the opportunities available to do business online, with a new survey showing that the majority of websites set up by planning groups are critically inadequate.

Bourse Data found none of the planning websites it examined offered online transactions and 64 per cent of those surveyed did not provide any value added services.

The survey also found only 24 per cent provided research to their clients, while 96 per cent of websites provided no news online.

Bourse Data chairman Alun Stevens said the survey results were in complete conflict to the trend of consumers demanding greater control of their investment portfolios.

“More and more investors are buying their own managed funds and securities online,” he said. “We found that financial planners’ websites lack the kind of value-added services desired by the new era of ‘information hungry’ investors.”

The survey took a representative sample of 25 financial planners’ websites from across Australia. It looked for whether the website had adapted to independent, tech savvy investors by providing the ability to research and transact online.

The survey found a lot of the websites merely described the planning firms’ capabilities and contact details.

But Stevens argued there were opportunities for financial planners who provide both research and online transaction capabilities, especially for investors with self-managed superannuation funds.

“What more investors want is both advice and control,” he said.

“The risk for planners who ignore this trend toward control is that their clients will sign up with other suppliers who are geared to capturing them as customers.”