Survey finds mixed feelings toward dealers

(August 13, 2004) While the banks have been making huge strides into the financial planning market, there are signs that bank-based advisors may not be any happier than their colleagues in the broader industry, according to an online survey conducted for Advisor.ca. In fact, they seem noticeably less happy with their dealers.

The survey found that advisors working at bank-based firms appear to be most dissatisfied with their dealership’s payout grid, with 53% of these respondents saying they did not believe it reflected fair value for the services provided.

In comparison, just 29% of respondents outside the bank environment shared that sentiment. Overall, 59% of advisors agreed their dealership’s grid provides fair value, but only 12% strongly agreed.

When asked to rate the services provided by their dealers, advisors assigned the most importance to back office efficiency, with 46% saying this was of the highest level of priority. Compliance advice was a top priority among 37% of advisors and 17% said they placed the highest level of priority on practice management services.

Non-bank advisors were more likely to appreciate the back office efficiency, with 51% of them assigning it the highest level of priority, while only 32% of those at bank-based firms said it was the highest priority.

Just under half of respondents (46%) said the value of service they receive from their dealers has increased over the past three years, while 23% said they have seen no change. Just 20% said they have seen the value of their dealer’s services decline over the same period.

These findings are based on the results of the April/May 2004 fielding of the Advisor Industry Panel. The panel represents the recognized universe of the advisor community for the purpose of delivering questionnaires to collect advisor’s opinions on specific industry related topics. A total of 380 online interviews were completed with a response rate of 54%.

Filed by Steven Lamb, Advisor.ca, steven.lamb@advisor.rogers.com