With pending regulatory changes likely to alter the financial planning landscape, dealer fees could rise as pressure also mounts for greater support services from advisers, according to independent advisory Business Health.
Business Health partner Terry Bell said the chance of a fee increase certainly had to be taken into consideration when looking at the marketplace and where future regulation might take it, including the possible loss of fees paid to dealer groups by product manufacturers.
“Dealer groups need to contemplate how these factors might affect their support services to advisers because the pressure will be on them to deliver,” Bell told InvestorDaily.
Since the onset of the global financial crisis, more practices had begun looking to their dealer groups for ways to deal with pending regulatory changes, increasing business value and effectively planning for succession, he said.
“As we face a more complex market and greater demand for adviser support, it is likely dealer groups will consider raising fees, particularly if there is demand for more in-depth support and possibly even new adviser services,” Bell said.
As 2010 unfolded, he said there was an opportunity for dealers to get feedback from advisers as to whether dealer groups were providing the right level of support, whether there was a need for new services and whether advisers would be willing to pay for it.
“The issue at the end of the day is around the value of the support delivered, not the cost of the service,” Bell said.
