The Financial Advice Market: Advisor opinion of provider brand

• Survey of 100 financial advisors to ascertain their opinion of market developments and provider brands
• Delves into advisor opinion of the importance of brand and various brand features

• See how important brand is relative to other factors that effect choice of provider
• Assess the relative importance of various brand values so that resources can be focused on the key areas

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

Market context

How do advisors view provider brands?

Perception of specific providers' brands

CHAPTER 1 MARKET CONTEXT

Datamonitor's brand survey

Characteristics of the financial advice market survey

The sample of financial advisors

The largest group within the survey were sole traders

Financial advisors are optimistic about the future

The majority of financial advisors anticipate growth in their market over the next 6 months

Growth potential within financial advisor's product range is anticipated to be strong in many areas

SIPPs have the most growth potential in the next six months

Protection products will maintain their current level of sales

The with-profit bond market has not yet reached its lowest point

The Financial advisors' opinion of regarding companies varies dramatically

Adivisors currently have the highest opinion of Standard Life, and the lowest opinion of Abbey

Advisors' attitude towards most insurers has declined

Standard Life, Friends Provident, Scottish Equitable, Prudential and Aviva moved up in the ranking; Skandia and Axa fell

Financial advisors have the most positive view of Fidelity out of the mutual fund providers, and the most negative view of HSBC

Opinion of most mutual fund providers has improved

CHAPTER 2 HOW DO ADVISORS VIEW BRAND?

The brands of life and pensions companies are rated highly by advisors

Efficiency in service and quality of products are the most important features of brand perception

Advisors ranked brand as the least important feature of providers

Brand is more important to some segments of an advisor's customer base than others

Although advisors feel that customers are sceptical of providers with a weaker brand, this does not appear to be related to distrust

Both perceived and actual service is the key value that providers need to promote

Perception of service as a brand value is crucial

Service as a brand value was ranked most highly by advisors

CHAPTER 3 PERCEPTION OF SPECIFIC PROVIDERS' BRANDS

There is significant variation in the brand perception of life companies

Standard Life is ranked highly for the perception of its service and its people

Prudential's brand is strong on the basis of soft factors

Norwich Union may be held back by its "multi-brand" image

At the other end of the scale Abbey and Axa are falling behind the pack

Advisors cannot find reasons for Axa's low brand ranking

Uncertainty and lack of consistency drives hesitation about what Abbey stands for

How can those falling behind strengthen their brand perception?

CHAPTER 4 APPENDIX

Methodology

Rating index for financial advisor product and provider attitude

Definitions

Life Assurance

Single Premium Life

Annual Premium Life

ISAs

Single premium pension products

Personal Pensions

Stakeholder Pensions

SIPPs (Self Invested Personal Pensions)

FSAVC (Free-Standing Additional Voluntary Contributions)

Annual premium pension products

Definitions of distribution channels

Independent Financial Advisors (IFAs)

Definitions of financial advisor firm types

Direct sales forces

Tied agents

Multi-tied agents

Bancassurance

Brandassurance

Direct marketing

Telesales

Other

Future readings

SPP writing team

List of Tables

Table 1: Which of the following best describes your company?

Table 2: I believe in the next 6 months the financial advice market will...

Table 3: Over the next six months how do you expect sales in each of the following products to change?

Table 4: What is your attitude to the following insurers?

Table 5: What is your attitude to the following insurers?

Table 6: What is your attitude to the following mutual fund providers?

Table 7: What is your attitude to the following mutual fund providers?

Table 8: How strong is the brand perception of the following types of financial services providers?

Table 9: How effective would the following be in strengthening brand perception?

Table 10: What percentage of your current customer base has liquid assets of?

List of Figures

Figure 1: 43% of those financial advice firms surveyed were sole traders

Figure 2: Most advisors think that the financial advice market will see limited growth over the next 6 months

Figure 3: SIPPs are the product forecast to see the highest growth over the next 6 months according to IFAs

Figure 4: The attitude to most insurers has declined between the Q4 2005 and the Q1 2006 surveys

Figure 5: Opinion of most mutual fund providers has improved since 2005

Figure 6: Efficiency of service is the most important feature of brand perception

Figure 7: The less financially aware a client, the more important brand strength is in the choice of provider

Figure 8: Customers are skeptical of providers with a weaker brand

Figure 9: Without an improvement in service, any efforts by providers to improve their brand strength will have little effect on me

Figure 10: Service as a brand value was ranked most highly by advisors

Figure 11: There is variation in the perception of the brand of life companies

Figure 12: Standard Life's brand is rated very highly across most areas

Figure 13: How effective would the following be in strengthening brand perception?