Centrepoint Alliance (CAF) is conducting a trial of robo-advice solutions within its salaried advice network with CAF managing director John de Zwart stating it produces tailored statements of advice faster than an adviser or paraplanner.
De Zwart declined to name the service provider that was working with the CAF’s salaried advice group — Alliance Wealth — but said the trial was covering simple risk and superannuation needs for entry level clients.
He said the trial was part of ongoing investment into the business over the past 12 months and follows CAF reporting an $3.3 million profit at the end of the last financial year and the launch of its own managed account offering in August 2014.
De Zwart said the creation of financial plans and meeting compliance requirements was occupying too much time for advisers within an internal survey of CAF advisers indicating the average adviser spent 72 per cent of their time on compliance and administration.
“The best advisers are not always the best technicians but they do have good empathy with their clients and can enact behavourial change with them,” he said.
“People are at their technical best in their mid to late 20s and once they move into more senior levels they are better at people management and marketing. We see this in accounting firms where the best relationship people are not the best technicians.”
De Zwart said a number of planning groups are moving away from the concept of financial planning to financial coaches supported by back office services to build a financial plan.
“This is where advice will head and we will see advisers overseeing a team of technicians producing the actual plans. Much of this will be automated and this is where we see robo-advice meeting financial planning.”
De Zwart said the CPAL group was also continuing with its rebranding and would drop its own logo as well as that of Professional Investment Services (PIS) while it considered new branding that more closely integrated the businesses held within the wider group.
He said PIS was likely to retain its name with a straw poll of advisers in the planning group indicating the majority were willing to retain the name for the time being.
