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The Big Four banks may be the preferred route for deposits, credit cards and mortgages, but according to the results of a recent shadow shop, consumers steer away from in-house bank planners when it comes to financial advice.
This is the outcome of the 2009 CoreData Financial Planning Shadow Shop, which covered 18 licensee groups and 450 client/financial planner interviews. The focus groups comprised of consumers who were either in the process of seeking a planner, or already had a planner but were considering making a change.
The 18 licensees were then given a score based on more than 100 client assessment questions of the advice experience.
The top five ranked licensees were Apogee, Charter Financial Planning, Macquarie Wealth Management, RetireInvest and MLC/Garvan Financial Planning.
Of the lowest ranking licensees, Commonwealth Financial Planning got the lowest score, followed by Professional Investment Services (PIS), St George Financial Planning, Westpac Financial Planning and ANZ Financial Planning.
The results showed that 50.3 per cent of the consumers surveyed were unlikely to choose a planner/adviser from one of the Big Four banks, including St George.
Some criticisms of planners from bank channels were that they were fee and product focused, while planners outside banks were praised for their broad product knowledge and follow-up skills.
CoreData partner Craig Phillips said research had found that dealer groups with strong referral networks from accountants, such as PIS, could struggle to convert non-referred new clients.
Phillips also said Australians have a mixed attitude when it comes to the majors.
“The banks are clearly more preferable destinations for commoditised products such as debt and deposits, but when it comes to advice and wealth management, consumers tend to prefer other groups. In the minds of many consumers there is a distinct difference between a bank that offers financial advice and a business that offers financial advice as its bread and butter.”
When it came to recommendations to family, friends or colleagues, 35.1 per cent said it was unlikely they would recommend planners from any of the Big Four banks and St George.
Other dealer groups included in the survey were AXA Financial Planning, AMP Financial Planning, NAB Financial Planning, Genesys Wealth Advisers, Godfrey Pembroke, Hillross Financial Services, ipac Securities and Securitor.
