Colonial First State giving planners what they need

Colonial First State (CFS) has again walked away with the top ranking in the annual Wealth Insights Service Level Survey.

The survey, based on the responses of 1,024 randomly selected financial planners on the platforms they used most often, saw CFS’s FirstChoice on the top of the heap as the most popular platform for the third year in a row, followed by Macquarie Wrap and Navigator.

The 2009 Service Level Survey produced a double for CFS, which also emerged as the most popular fund manager, followed by BT Financial Group, with MLC and Perpetual filling equal third spot.

Commenting on the results of the survey, Wealth Insights managing director Vanessa McMahon said CFS appeared to have succeeded with its FirstChoice platform by ensuring that it continued to meet the needs of planners in tough times.

She said while, on paper, other platforms might have been able to deliver a wider range of functions, planners had liked the FirstChoice platform because it had delivered most of what they wanted and was easy to use.

“Being a good idea and having an extensive menu is not as important as delivering friendly technology and being easy to use,” McMahon said.

“Advisers are trying to reduce costs and increase efficiency, so they appreciate a platform which lets them achieve those objectives.”

McMahon said that, contrary to the views of some commentators, it was financial planners who were placing the pressure on platform providers for improvements rather than their clients.

CFS chief executive Brian Bissaker said he was obviously delighted that CFS had found itself again ranked on top.

He attributed the success to CFS’ personnel and a system of continuing process improvement.

“It is a cultural thing,” he said. “We are not trying to reinvent the wheel. Rather, we are trying to determine what planners want and then deliver continuing process improvement,” Bissaker said.