Macquarie Life has achieved the highest overall adviser satisfaction ranking in the latest survey from researcher Investment Trends.
The Investment Trend’s 2011 Planner Risk Report found that advisers who used Macquarie Life were the most satisfied with their insurer’s overall performance. In second place in terms of the number of satisfied advisers was Asteron, with AIA Australia rounding out the top three.
The survey results showed advisers were generally satisfied with insurance providers, with 77% of those surveyed rating their primary insurer as ‘good’ or ‘very good’. Investment Trends said this was a ‘very high’ ranking, although it was down on last year’s figure of 81%.
However the researcher warned that insurers with a low number of satisfied advisers run the risk of losing business, with the survey finding over one-third of advisers admitting they had switched providers in the past 12 months.
Switching behaviour is prolific…
Senior Analyst with Investment Trends, Recep Peker, said switching behaviour was “prolific” and maintaining a high level of satisfaction was critically important as planners were very willing to seek out the best insurer for their clients.
“We have identified a very strong statistical relationship between satisfaction and switching behaviour,” Mr Peker said. “Relative to their market share, insurance providers with lower overall satisfaction ratings from their users lose a higher proportion of advisers to other providers.”
He said the most commonly cited reasons for leaving a provider included poor support and service.
The survey was conducted throughout August and September this year with 729 financial planners from across Australia.
