Financial turmoil over the past year has seen a massive
review of where people obtain financial advice. A third of people (some 16.5
million people) switched between advisers, have moved to being advised or being
non-advised. This rises to two-thirds among the most financially active
segment, giving rise to a highly mobile client base.
The 2009/2010 Financial DIY report from ComPeer / JGFR sets out the state of the Financial advice market and found more people have a financial adviser in 2009, although the majority are still undecided.
It also found that the banks are making a comeback as main
financial advisers following their abandonment of this role in the mid-2000s
when they commoditised and de-personalised many of their services with millions
of people turning to Financial DIY.
The report examined how people regard financial advisers and
found that the more financially active the individual the more likely they are
to be critical of advice and are more likely to switch – and to move from
advised to non-advised.
Growing use of online banking and financial services has
been a major reason for the emergence of Financial DIY, although this report
finds greater concern this year in using online financial services following
the high profile savings bank losses and worries over privacy and identify
theft.
Big marketing challenges in servicing the needs of the
advised and non-advised markets face financial advisers and institutions. The
role of the internet and increasingly the use of social networking sites are at
the heart of much industry deliberation.
Financial DIY – The rise of the mobile client helps to
simplify by customer levels of activity and their advice preferences across
different product types what has become an unnecessarily complex and costly
area of financial services, with no sign of change. Too often understanding
consumer needs have been forgotten. An objective of Financial DIY is to show
what the financial advice needs of the consumer are and how and where they are
served.
For details of obtaining the report ring +44 (0) 208 944
7510 / 07740 027968
Or email info@jgfr.co.uk