Westpac-owned dealer group Securitor wants its planners to abandon the commission based remuneration model and move to a fee-for-service model.
"The future is about unbundling advice from the product," BT general manager of advice and private banking Geoff Lloyd said at the annual Securitor Convention in Darwin yesterday.
At the moment, about 42 per cent of Securitor advisers work on a fee-for-service basis. This percentage is likely to move to 60 - 70 per cent over the next five years, Lloyd said.
But Lloyd said it would be a gradual process as it is difficult to change the fee model for existing clients.
Therefore, the change to a fee-for-advice model will happen gradually through new clients, he said.
A survey held by Securitor in March among its planners found that they had been relatively successful in retaining clients during the financial crisis.
Eighty three per cent of the more than 270 planners who responded to the survey had lost fewer than five clients.
"You've done a terrific job on retention," Lloyd said, but he added that the focus should now be on growing the business again.
He sees opportunities mainly in the areas superannuation, due to the ageing population of Australia, and risk protection.
According to the survey, planners expected to increase the percentage of revenue they derive from risk advice from the current 16 per cent to 21 per cent over the next two years.
Revenues from managed funds are expected to decrease from 70 per cent now to about 60 per cent over this period.
