Wealth Adviser newsletter - "Remote control: How working from home is creating challenges and opportunities for financial advisory firms"

Remote control: How working from home is creating challenges and opportunities for financial advisory firms

Adjusting to the 'new normal' is the focus of this week's newsletter with a new poll by Intelliflo suggesting that remote working – for at least part of the week – is set to become a long-term reality for more than half (53 per cent) of employees at financial advisory firms. And clients should benefit as a result with less time spent commuting meaning that advisers have more time to spend on relationship building.
Technology too, is playing a big part in the new adviser-client relationship with Intelliflo reporting a huge 383 per cent increase in log-ins to its Personal Finance Portal between February and June this year.
New research from CoreDate meanwhile, also focuses on the increased importance of technology in the financial advice and wealth management sector, with 100 per cent of the almost 1,000 advisers surveyed saying they use online platforms to conduct business – 68 per cent of them on a daily basis.
“Our findings suggest that platforms have not only weathered the Covid-19 crisis but have managed to build closer partnerships with advisers,” says Craig Phillips, head of International, CoreData Research. “The shift to digital-first offerings amid the crisis, coupled with the heightened need to support clients, has seen advisers gravitate toward platforms.”
In a comment piece this week, Achi Lewis, EMEA Director at mobile working software specialist NetMotion, looks at some of the challenges firms face in safeguarding client data, making it secure, and maintaining compliance while staff are working from home.
UK investors meanwhile, are seeking a safe haven in cash savings despite government attempts to encourage spending and investment, according to new research commissioned by HYCM. The survey of 900 UK-based investors reveals that cash savings (78 per cent), stocks and shares (40 per cent), and property (38 per cent) are the most favoured asset classes at present.
Upcoming MiFID II measures, which will require advisers to ask clients specifically about ESG matters, are the focus of the final study this week, with new research commissioned by Rathbones revealing that some firms are more prepared than others. While more than three quarters of advisers say they are comfortable with the terms 'ESG', 'socially responsible', and 'ethical', in relation to investing, 60 per cent describe their understanding of 'impact investing' as either 'weak' or 'very weak'.
And finally, in a guest article, Nedgroup Investments Ian Beattie sets out six reasons why, despite the general market uncertainty caused by the coronavirus pandemic, the firm is optimistic about the outlook for emerging markets equities.
Wealth Adviser

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