Advisers get wise on wrap services details

A survey by Macquarie Portfolio Services has revealed that the knowledge of wrap services among advisers has escalated over the past 12 months, and particularly over the last six months.

"We found that about 60 per cent of those surveyed had a very good knowledge of wrap services. And, among the other 40 per cent, everyone had some grasp of what a wrap services is," says Macquarie Portfolio Services associate director of sales Phil Butterworth.

He attributes the greater awareness to "all the hype and education" from wrap service providers.

"Nearly everyone initially had a tendency to associate wrap services with electronic transacting, but those with further understanding also see it as an easier way to provide reviews to clients," he says.

Macquarie surveyed advisers and staff at 50 national and boutique financial adviser groups over a six month period.

It found that among those with more knowledge, the key benefit of wrap services was perceived to be consolidated reviews, followed by reduced paperwork, portability, faster transacting and lower fees.

According to the study, the three key recurring transacting issues that advisers are currently struggling with are getting accurate paperwork from clients, educating clients about transacting procedures and the sheer volume of paperwork associated with making transactions.

When it comes to reviews, key difficulties include the time consuming nature of collecting data from clients and data entry, as well as the frustrations of gaining access to historical data and the amount of manual work involved in consolidating clients assets and reporting on performance.

Macquarie expects to offer a solution to these problems when it releases its portfolio management solution later this year.