A better way to find a Personal Financial Advisor – Singapore

After months of hardwork,

AdvisoryInc launched its beta financial advisor search module @

singapore.personal-financial-advisor.com/

Dynamic search filtering will allow a visitor to better find an advisor to suit his/her profile.

Crisis on several fronts for RMs

Client trust and confidence waning as over half say they count on themselves for financial advice now. Client attrition is another fallout, reports GENEVIEVE CUA

A GLOBAL survey has found that only one-fifth of chief executives of wealth management firms believe that their relationship managers (RMs) are of ‘high calibre’, with more than a quarter saying their RMs are of only average ability.

Despite this, training hours globally were reduced last year compared to 2007. In Asia, training hours increased but the emphasis was on market updates and products.

The cut in training, says PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC), is understandable when budgets are under pressure. ‘However, the quality of RMs has never been more important. If quality of advice is to be the real differentiator, wealth managers need to improve their RMs’ skills – and quickly.’

This is one of several significant findings of a study by PwC earlier this year. The study, A New Era: Redefining the Way to Deliver Trusted Advice, points to a crisis on several fronts for wealth managers.

The obvious one is that of client trust and confidence as over half of clients say their main source of financial advice is now their own research and knowledge. The survey polled nearly 240 private banks and wealth managers in 40 countries between December 2008 and March 2009. Asia Pacific accounts for about 16 per cent of respondents.

Client attrition is yet another fallout. The survey indicates that attrition rates are higher in Asia where 31 per cent of respondents are grappling with an attrition rate of over 25 per cent. Globally, around 10 per cent of bankers suffered attrition rates of more than 25 per cent.

Globally, only 55 per cent of respondents have formal client retention programmes, which PwC sees as a ‘dangerous omission’ on current market conditions. Most private clients report that they are rarely asked to comment on the quality of service they received; about 35 per cent said this happened only once a year.

Perhaps this explains yet another statistic: only 38 per cent of respondents are able to retain more than 50 per cent of assets upon intergenerational wealth transfer.

http://www.businesstimes.com.sg/sub/storyprintfriendly/0,4582,344748,00.html?

In Search of Competent (and Honest) Advisers

Paul Sullivan had an interesting article on the New York Times on the 31st July.

Here’s an extract;

AFTER all the turmoil in the markets, after Bernard L. Madoff and a bunch of other financial scandals, investors may well be questioning whether they’ve chosen the rightfinancial adviser.

It may be someone you like and trust, but is it someone competent to manage your money?

A recent PricewaterhouseCoopers survey of 238 private banks and wealth management firms is not reassuring. “The economic crisis has presented client relationship managers with challenges that they have neither the experience nor the skills to deal with,” the study said. If quality of advice is the real differentiator, the study went on, then wealth managers need to make sure that their advisers have the relevant skills, tools and training.

What is disturbing in the study’s findings is that only now, after the crash, have wealth management firms realized they need to train advisers to do a better job.

“Does the person you’re talking to understand?” said C. Steven Crosby, head of PwC’s wealth management practice for the Americas. “It’s not going down a checklist and saying how many wives, how many kids, how many homes? It’s what wealth means to you.”

STATE OF PLAY The survey paints a picture of the wealth management industry that may be different from what investors expect, particularly investors with substantial wealth. Mr. Crosby said the survey questioned managers who advised clients with $500,000 to $20 million.

Of that sampling, only 7 percent said they felt strongly that they had received adequate training to complete their job to the highest standard. A little more than half said they felt they had received some training. What is shocking is the rest — some 36 percent of wealth managers surveyed — said they believed they were not fully qualified to do their job.

Read more of this article here – http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/01/your-money/financial-planners/01wealth.html

AdvisoryInc enhances Corporate Module

AdvisoryInc contines to improve its functionalities for her corporate partners by adding on new modules. 
The recent enhancements allows advisors to indicate the year they joined the financial planning industry and the languages they are fluent in.

Companies can now also include a short write up for themselves, list their product partners and update all advisors’ portals with updates on company news, products updates and events.