Face-to-face will continue to be the dominant method of advice delivery in the superannuation industry, despite the growth in digital or robo advice, according to research presented at the Association of Superannuation Funds of Australia (ASFA) annual conference in Brisbane.
Sarah Brennan, the founder of specialist research firm Comparator Business Benchmarking, provided research revealing that where superannuation funds are concerned, face-to-face advice represents 59 per cent of interactions with members compared to 31 per cent with respect to telephone advice interactions and 10 per cent of digital interactions.
Further, the Comparator research showed that looking out over five years, face-to-face advice would continue to dominate, notwithstanding the growth in digital/robo advice. Importantly, the Comparator data showed that of those receiving face-to-face advice, 40 per cent were receiving comprehensive advice.
On the downside, however, the research revealed that only 2 per cent of superannuation fund members were accessing any advice at all.
Where costs were concerned, it found the cost of delivery to members was 2.4 basis points, equating to an average $28 per account for scaled advice or $1,000 for comprehensive advice.
Later in the ASFA session, SuperEd founder and former Vanguard executive, Jeremy Duffield said he believed the future of the superannuation industry resided in advice and the key to success lay in making it available.
He said it was in these circumstances that digital advice represented the key but there needed to be an understanding that defaults were not enough and that one size did not fit all.
Duffield said super funds needed to look beyond the provision of once-off advice and look towards taking members on an advice journey.
However, he cautioned that funds could not afford to fund a traditional advice model and would have to utilise digital advice offerings.
