Coddington launches client profile tool
IN A BID to help planners come to terms with the ‘Know Your Client’ provision of the new Financial Services Reform Act licensing regime, Coddington Finance Corporation has rolled out a new planner tool that examines the driving forces behind a client’s investment decisions.
Labelled ‘Financial DNA’, the group’s managing director Hugh Massie says the tool works by running through a two-step process that creates a profile of the investor’s needs and then considers the behavioural considerations behind those needs.
“Every decision has a financial impact and this allows planners to drill down to that impact, as people are keen to know more about their own situation,” Massie says.
The behaviour of investors varies over time, according to Massie, and at present, risk profiling is the only tool being used to analyse the needs of clients who seek advice.
He says the service is not designed to compete with risk profiling, but rather that risk profiling is only one strand in building the total picture of a client’s needs.
“There must be an equal relationship between the adviser and the client, but this can take some time. This process aims to put more of the relationship upfront and at a much deeper level,” Massie says.
The underlying analysis system has been in use in the US for 10 years before being adapted for local use by the group, making it the first system of its type operating in the local market, according to Massie.
He also says the system is not designed for looking at asset allocation or choosing investments, but rather setting the parameters for the relationship in which the adviser and clients can discuss those matters.
AUTHOR
Jason Spits
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