Dynamic Planner chief executive officer Ben Goss said 10 years on from the ban of commission, it is finally the end of an era for product sales.
Speaking at its 11th annual conference today (February 7), Goss set out his vision for the industry.
He said the “pandemic and ensuing uncertainty” in the world is driving growing demand and need for financial advice.
“These factors have also driven technology adoption at an unprecedented rate,” he said.
“The industry is in the foothills of something really quite special when you combine great advice with the right technology and aligned asset management.
“We believe that as the industry embraces personal financial planning at scale, the era of product sales is over. But 10 years on from the banning of commission, why has it taken so long?”
Goss explained that historically, the industry was “wired back to front”, from the product systems and their needs to the customer, not from the customer and their needs to the product.
“While RDR was undoubtedly the catalyst for change, financial planning technology with the client at the centre, allied with their adviser is now enabling real change,” he said.
“Like RDR before it, the advent of consumer duty comes with many questions of its own, not least how do firms demonstrably ensure clients get the outcomes and value they are looking for, while at the same time growing value in their own business?”
Goss said servicing clients in a way that delivers the outcomes they are looking for, in an era of increasing price transparency, amid new regulation, will really crystallise the challenge.
“I am confident that as an industry we can get to grips with the productivity challenge, in part because of how we all responded to RDR, but more than that, the industry now is arguably in the best shape it has ever been with clients getting consistent ongoing services and firms benefiting from a profitable ongoing fee model,” he added.
“The industry has come far. It is technology that has underpinned this transformation and it is technology that is integral in enabling the productivity we are seeing now.”
sonia.rach@ft.com
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