What do clients really, really want?

Nick is speaking at the Platforum VI Conference “to 2013 and beyond!” at the Queen Elizabeth II Conference Centre in Westminster today.

He is responding to three platform speakers, representing larger intermediary firms, who are describing the positioning of their businesses.

In response Nick is making the point that the smaller independent financial advisory firm will succeed following the introduction of the Retail Distribution Review (RDR) on 31st December 2012.

Nick’s argument is that the shopping list of consumer ‘wants’ is best delivered by a smaller dedicated specialist firm that operates on a team basis and one that uses technology to drive efficiency into its business model.

Identifying the following list of demands from the typical clients who seek independent advice (upper end of the mass market, the mass affluent and high net worth clients) he argues that larger firms may struggle to deliver.

What do clients really, really want?

-Specialist advice from properly qualified financial planners;

-Involvement in the investment decision making process;

-Provision of transparent and understandable product solutions;

-Explanation of all risks involved;

-Regular and meaningful reporting; and

-Local and trusted relationships.

Credit to the Merrill Lynch Cap Gemini successive World Wealth surveys for this shopping list.

Nick argues that this is all about the culture of the firm and that culture is more easily maintained in a firm of an optimal scale and that the desire to achieve a substantial scale may result in a loss of focus on the consumer.