- Fees and dealer splits (33%)
- Culture of the dealer group (19%)
- Support services (18%)
- Licensee owner (institution or 'non-aligned') (10%)
- Approved product lists (9%)
- Compliance support (8%)
- Other (4%)
Adviser responses to our latest poll tell us that the most important factor when considering changing licensees or remaining with the current dealer is remuneration.
Asked to choose the two most important factors that would cause an adviser to change or consider changing dealer groups, 63% of advisers selected fees and dealer splits as one of their two key factors.
Also receiving a large number of votes from advisers, thereby highlighting their importance, were the culture of the dealer group and the support services it offers, each of which have so far attracted a vote from 35% of those taking our poll.
Interestingly, the question of licensee ownership structures does not seem to be as important to advisers when assessing which dealer group they would prefer to work with. To date, less than one in five advisers (18%) place licensee ownership in their top two most important factors.
The majority of opinion seems to be well summarised in this adviser comment:
A relationship with the licensee is like any other business relationship. The success depends on what you get out of it and ultimately, what you earn. Consequently in my opinion the two most important factors are support services & fees and dealer splits.
Another adviser has made a valid point that we have overlooked an important consideration in this poll, which related to exit protocols:
Check the small print and ask around to see how your ‘new’ dealer group handles exits!
The role of all financial advisers is to service the financial needs and lifestyle aspirations of the community. But when viewing their service in terms of a business, it would appear logical that those operating a small business would want to grow the value of their business as much as possible, while serving their clients’ needs.
Also of interest is the relative lack of interest in the issue of compliance as a factor. Compliance has proven to be a key factor for advisers in some other industry surveys when it comes to selecting licensees, particularly during the FoFA debate over recent years. But only 15% consider it to be in the top two most important factors.
Our poll remains open for another week and we are keen for you to add your votes and your voices to this question…
