Financial advisers will be more focused on the industry changes occurring this year than new technology, according to Centrepoint Alliance.
The firm’s chief executive, Angus Benbow, said in the future advisers would prioritise a more digital way of working but they were currently inundated with education and revenue model changes, along with potentially looking for a new licensee if they had come out of a bigger institution.
“My view is that they’re not looking to make technological or digital changes in the next six to 12 months because they have so many other changes to make,” he said.
“However, they want to make sure that whoever they’re partnering with, the licensee, is going to be looking after that on their behalf. There is an expectation that in 12-24 month time advisers would be more ready to look at those things as there’s the capacity in their businesses to start investigating.
“Their licensee should then be able to bring different solutions to them and after going through appropriate screening and due diligence to provide those services.”
Benbow noted that sentiment surrounding the role of advice will be much more positive this year than the last as there was certainty on industry changes.
“There will be a lot more positive stories this year in terms of the value of advice from both an individual and community perspective on what advice provided for Australians and the economy at large,” he said.
“The industry has around 20,000 to 25,000 advisers who have an incredibly positive impact on the Australian community. The industry needs to communicate and reach out to community members who have not experienced having a financial adviser and the support they provide to them and their families.
“This is going to be a very positive and busy year and that goes from not having to deal with a huge amount of uncertainty and working on how we deal with that change.”
Benbow noted that advice business were not shrinking but in fact some advisers could not keep up with work and this was a positive.
“I haven’t seen any loss of business. They are all in transition in terms of their revenue models and while there has been a lot of changes, a lot of new business is coming in as well,” he said.
