Risk insurance: advisers need choices

Financial planners are looking to platform providers to increase the number of risk products available on their platforms as planners increasingly look to insurance to provide an alternative source of income, according to Investment Trends principal Mark Johnston.

While most financial planners like to write with one platform, this means platforms need to provide a wider choice of risk products for advisers, Johnston said.

Adviser revenue from selling risk products jumped 30 per cent in 2008 as financial planners increased their income from insurance sales, according to Investment Trends’ Planner Risk and Risk Technology report.

Johnston said as insurance premiums stayed steady or went up when the investment market dropped, insurance sales as a proportion of planner revenue grew. There was a strong increase in risk numbers from bank-based financial planners, Johnston said.

However, he expects insurance sales to rise over time as planners actively seek other sources of revenue.

The report also found 58 per cent of financial planners prefer to access client data through the Internet, rising from 30 per cent in 2004.

IRESS Market Technology’s planning software application, XPLAN, was given the top rating in terms of overall planner satisfaction with planning technology. It is the fourth consecutive year XPLAN has been ranked first in planning software.

Andrew Walsh, the general manager of IRESS’ wealth management software division, said the results demonstrated the company’s focus on tightly integrated efficient solutions.