Platform providers will need to abandon a one size fits all service approach to satisfy the changing requirements of financial advisers and their clients, according to Snowball Group managing director Tony McDonald.
"Clients have changed fundamentally, particularly the next big wave of baby boomers who want to thrive, not survive. They will have a resistance to one size fits all and I think that will have profound consequences for the vertically integrated models," he told delegates at the 2010 Wraps, Platforms & Masterfunds Conference yesterday.
This change in client behaviour means financial planners will need to deliver their advice in a more tailored and segmented way and this in turn will impact what advisers expect from the platform providers they use, McDonald said.
To this end, the Snowball Group recently completed a 12-month review of what it required from its platform providers.
"We want the ability to implement our preferred advice propositions segment by segment," McDonald said.
The desired solution may not actually be able to be fulfilled by one provider and it could mean having to use several platforms at the same time, he said.
The dealer group having complete control of the client relationship was another critical element Snowball said it now wanted in its platform provider relationship.
"We want to make sure that the total experience, not only the giving of the advice, but the portfolio management and the portfolio administration is totally consistent at every inch of the way with the experience we want to give," McDonald said.
The ability to provide templating techniques to facilitate the running of model portfolios was another critical platform service Snowball identified.
"There has been a raft of announcements recently from the platforms about moving towards dealing better with direct equities in a portfolio management templating sense," McDonald said.
"That is going to be critical for IFAs (independent financial advisers), advisers and dealer groups because we will be running those portfolios," he said.
