The results of the nineteenth Taylor Intermediary Study of adviser satisfaction have been released, with three companies achieving the highest ‘Five Star’ rating.
riskinfo understands from industry sources that Macquarie Life, AIA Australia and AXA received a Five Star rating, based on weighted performance results.
Head of Macquarie Life, Justin Delaney, said Macquarie had been working hard to raise the bar in some areas that were highlighted as having room for improvement in the 2008 report: “We are a relatively young business and we recognise the ongoing need to grow and build on our offering to advisers,” said Mr Delaney.
Macquarie ranked number one in the following areas:
- Administration support (including claims and underwriting services)
- Staff availability
- Image and reputation of the business
- Staff competency
- Timeliness
- Ease of doing business
- Strength of the partnership or relationship built with advisers
Overall, unweighted performance scores (where only five performance points separated each of the eleven companies) rank Macquarie and AIA Australia just ahead of six of their competitors: Asteron, Aviva, AXA, CommInsure, TOWER and Zurich.
The Report highlights the importance that advisers place on the service categories of Underwriting Services and Processing of Claims Applications. According to Taylor, this reflects the pressure that suppliers are under as advisers continue to intensify their demands for their main suppliers to maintain a high level of service in all areas of operation.
advisers … will only switch suppliers if their expectations are not being satisfied in the long term
However, the Report also notes that advisers are generally very loyal to their main suppliers and will only switch suppliers if their expectations are not being satisfied in the long term.
Mr Delaney commented, “Reports like this are highly valuable as they give us a detailed and independent view of advisers’ experience with us, along with showing us where we can build on our current service standards.”
