Abstract
Overview
Introduction
A survey based study examining how technology is integrated into the business
of financial advisors in the UK. The report gauges how well providers are
serving the technological needs of IFAs, particularly as more sophisticated
products develop.
Scope
- A Datamonitor proprietal survey of 100 UK IFAs revealing their views on
technology.
- In-depth analysis of the impact of technology on the efficiency of the IFA
business model and the varying levels of usage in the industry.
- Reveals IFAs attitudes toward life companies and mutual fund providers in
the UK.
Highlights
This report identifies and analyses key issues relating to technology take up
by IFAs, including their online usage of product or service offerings. An
assessment of providers' market position is important as more sophisticated
technological products develop.
Reasons to Purchase
- Gives access to Datamonitor' s proprietal survey of UK IFAs from Q1 2008.
- Gives detailed assessment of IFAs' views of life companies and mutual fund
providers and their technological offerings.
- Helps readers design their online proposition to meet the needs of IFAs,
providing knowledge of the most likely online services to be demanded.
Table of Contents
- DATAMONITOR VIEW
- ANALYSIS
- The financial advice survey tracks the main changes inadvisor opinion
each quarter
- Financial advisors have a particularly positive viewtowards Standard
Life, Legal & General, Aviva and Scottish Equitableas life companies
- Financial advisors are dealing less with Skandia becauseits products
don' t match the business models of IFAs
- Friends Provident revealed a £46m loss in 2007, and hasmade job cuts,
lost its finance director and is at the center of takeoverspeculation
- A small percentage of IFAs will not work with someinsurance providers
because of a negative experience in the past
- Aviva and Abbey are viewed more negatively by IFAs thanother life
companies
- Financial advisors have a particularly positive viewtowards Fidelity,
Invesco and Jupiter as mutual fund providers.
- Invesco Perpetual is one of the largest independent assetmanagement
companies in the UK
- Fidelity is popular but recent research shows their UKfund
underperforming
- The Jupiter Group has received more than 120 awards overthe past four
years
- Some large life companies have low online penetration butothers are
winning
- The providers most used for online services are Legal& General,
Norwich Union and Friends Provident
- Legal & General, Norwich Union and Friends Providentare more
popular as providers of online services because they are moreactively
promoting their online services
- IFAs favor applications over enquiries when conductingonline business
- The majority of IFAs conduct less than 25% of their newbusiness
through online systems.
- The internet is widely used by UK households to enquireabout financial
services
- Bond and protection applications are the most favoredonline business
for IFAs
- Bonds applications are less dependent on individual datacapture
- IFAs do not apply online for bonds because they find iteasier to
complete applications offline
- Some types of protection application are more formulaicand therefore
more easily conducted online
- Just 37% of all pensions applications made by IFAs overthe last six
months have been online
- SIPP products and their customers are more suited toonline
applications than standard pensions
- Technology and communications are pivotal in thedevelopment of the
SIPP market
- Towards a more simplified future UK pension market?
- New business tracking enquiries are more popular onlinethan policy
enquiries
- IFAs are still not convinced that their new businesstracking enquiries
can be answered online
- Policy enquiries are the least favored online activitywith IFAs
believing that they can get better quality information over thetelephone
- IFAs do not show an interest in support services using newtechnology
- Unipass certificates are important tools
- IFAs conduct less that 25% of their new policy businessonline and prefer
to deal directly with providers
- IFAs are more interested in working directly withproviders rather than
through fund supermarkets and wrap platforms
- Wrap platforms need to have better functionality for IFAsto use them
more
- Providers need to give more online support to IFAs in achallenging
market
- Wraps and fund supermarkets are a convenient way for IFAsto manage
their client business
- Fund supermarkets already operate some elements of wrap
- Life and pensions providers have the scale to launch anddevelop Wrap
- Wrap should be viewed and sold as a new distributionchannel rather
than as a product
- Providers or fund supermarkets offering Wrap technologyneed to pay
attention to the needs of IFAs for successful distribution inthe
intermediary market
- APPENDIX
- Definitions
- Bibliography
- Methodology
- Further reading
- Ask the analyst
- Datamonitor consulting
- Disclaimer
- List of Tables
- Table 1: Which of the following statements bestdescribes your attitude
to these providers?
- Table 2: Which of the following statements bestdescribes your attitude
to these insurers? Q1 2007
- Table 3: Which of the following statements bestdescribes your attitude
to these mutual fund providers?
- Table 4: Which of the following statements bestdescribes your attitude
to these mutual fund providers? Q1 2007
- Table 5: Have you made any of the following applications/ enquiries
offline or online in the last 6 months?
- Table 6: Have you have made a new business trackingenquiry offline
instead of online in the last 6 months?
- Table 7: Why do you make new business tracking enquiriesoffline instead
of online?
- Table 8: Have you made a policy enquiry offline insteadof online in the
last 6 months?
- Table 9: Why have you made policy enquiries offlineinstead of online in
the last 6 months?
- Table 10: What type of organization do you work for? Q42007
- Table 11: What is the average case size of business youdeal with?
- Table 12: What proportion of your new policy business doyou conduct
through the following online systems?
- Table 13: Have you made a bond application offlineinstead of online in
the last six months?
- Table 14: If you have made an offline bond applicationin the last 6
months, why did you choose to make the bond applicationoffline?
- Table 15: Have you made a protection application offlineinstead of
online in the last 6 months?
- Table 16: If you made a protection application offlinerather than online
in the last six months, why did you choose to make theprotection application
offline rather than online?
- Table 17: Have you made a pension application offlineinstead of online
in the last 6 months?
- Table 18: If you made a pension application offlinerather than online in
the last 6 months, why did you choose to make theprotection application
offline rather than online?
- Table 19: SIPP new business is forecast to continue toincrease in the
pensions market
- Table 20: ¥Were any of the offline pension applicationsyou made in the
last 6 months for SIPPs? (Base: those IFAs who have madean offline pension
application in the last 6 months.)
- Table 21: How interested would you be in any of theseonline services
from a product provider?
- Table 22: If you conduct less than 25% of your businessthorough a wrap
platform, which online services attract you to a wrapplatform?
- Table 23: To what extent do you agree with eachstatement?
- List of Figures
- Figure 1: Financial Advisors have a particularlyfavorable attitude
towards Standard Life and Legal & General asinsurance product providers
- Figure 2: Some life companies are less highly regardedthan in Q1 2007
- Figure 3: A small percentage of IFAs will not work withsome insurance
providers because of a negative experience in the past
- Figure 4: Financial advisors are most impressed byFidelity, Invesco and
Jupiter as mutual fund providers
- Figure 5: A small percentage of IFAs will not work withsome mutual fund
providers because of a negative experience in the past
- Figure 6: Most mutual fund providers are more highlyregarded than in Q1
2007
- Figure 7: Some large life companies have low onlinepenetration although
others are winning
- Figure 8: Bond applications is the favored type ofonline business for
IFAs, with half having made online bond applicationsduring the last six
months
- Figure 9: The IFA industry is characterized principallyby single outlets
- Figure 10: The IFA industry is characterized principallyby case sizes of
less than £5,000
- Figure 11: The majority of IFAs conduct less than 25% oftheir new
business through online systems
- Figure 12: Half of all bond applications by IFAs aremade online
- Figure 13: IFAs make bond applications offline becausethey find it
easier than online
- Figure 14: Nearly half of all protection applicationsmade by IFAs over
the last six months have been online
- Figure 15: IFAs make protection applications offlinebecause they find it
easier than online
- Figure 16: 37% of IFAs have made an online pensionapplication in the
last six months
- Figure 17: IFAs find pension applications easier tocomplete offline
- Figure 18: SIPP new business is growing and well suitedto new technology
- Figure 19: 40% of IFAs have made an online SIPPapplication in the last
six months
- Figure 20: IFAs prefer to conduct new business trackingenquiries offline
rather than online
- Figure 21: IFAs are concerned about the quality ofinformation available
online when tracking new business
- Figure 22: Policy enquires are least likely to beconducted online than
other types of IFA business
- Figure 23: IFAs believe that they get more reliableinformation about
policies by telephone
- Figure 24: IFAs do not show an interest in supportservices using new
technology
- Figure 25: IFAs would like more support to betterutilize wrap platforms
- Figure 26: IFAs think that they get sufficient supportfrom providers,
but would like more tools available online
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