News in Brief

• Andrew Lowe Departs OnePath;
• Advice Too Expensive – Gen Y;
• Underwriting, Claims Teams Trump BDMs;
• 2013 PFL/AFA Life Company of the Year Awards

Andrew Lowe Departs OnePath

Well-known technical expert and industry commentator, Andrew Lowe, has left OnePath.

A spokesperson for the wealth manager said it had recently made a number of changes to its Technical Services and Professional Standards and Policy team, bringing them together to form a single dedicated group focused on the professional development of advisers.

The new team will be led by Helen Blackford, who reports to Head of Advice Delivery, Raelene Seales.

“As part of this change, Andrew Lowe has decided to pursue opportunities outside of ANZ,” the spokesperson said. “We would like to thank Andrew for the significant contribution he has made to ANZ Global Wealth and we wish him all the very best for the future.”

Advice Too Expensive – Gen Y

The majority of Australians aged less than 35 years think obtaining financial advice would be expensive.

RaboDirect has released the results of its 2013 National Savings & Debt Barometer, finding that 60% of Gen Y respondents saying they believed using a financial planner would be expensive.

However, Gen Ys were the most trusting of advisers, compared with Gen X and Baby Boomers.

According to Bede Cronin, RaboDirect’s National Manager Key Account Services, financial advisers should confront the perception that advice is too expensive and demonstrate the role they can play in developing long term strategies to deliver financial security.

“Our findings reveal a clear opportunity for planners to engage with younger generations to teach them about the value of financial planning and show them the benefits that come from investing in their financial wellbeing.

“The opportunity for all planners is to not just develop strong relationships for older generations but to develop a clear plan for engaging Gen Y also,” he said.

Underwriting, Claims Teams Trump BDMs

Riskinfo’s latest poll results seem to indicate advisers rate the value of their underwriting and claims teams above those of their BDM service team providers.

Responding to our question about which client service team is the most critically important in helping advisers deliver value to their clients, the results to date fall in favour of the life company underwriting teams as being the most important service team providers (35%), followed by the claims (19%) and BDM teams (10%).

But in fairness to all three service teams, there have also been 35% of advisers voting in this poll who rate all three teams to be of equal importance to them. Does this reflect your own thinking? As we said last week, it’s a little unfair to even ask this question, given all three teams play such an integral role in delivering services to advisers and their clients. Meanwhile…

2013 PFL/AFA Life Company of the Year Awards

The industry’s best service teams will be announced at a gala event in Sydney on 12th March, at the 2013 PFL/AFA Life Company of the Year Awards – a night that will recognise and celebrate the best contributions and performances by life companies and their key service providers in 2013.

The 2013 Life Company of the Year will be announced, as will the winners of service quality and product awards across the major life insurance categories.