There is also excellent work being done by people like Holly Mackay of Boring Money, whose new research identifies five pillars of value and assesses what matters most to clients.
At the top of the list? Not performance or fees, but the trust and peace of mind that the adviser relationship can bring. The help to think through financial planning decisions is also highly prized.
My sense is of an industry building a much more refined understanding of what clients value, particularly in a digital age, where reporting needs to be more transparent, where there is greater resistance to admin, and where risk-based financial planning is fundamental to a successful relationship.
Firms are working out what good looks like in many areas: quality reviews that reflect the client’s objectives and risks, goals-based financial planning that takes into account the full picture of the client’s circumstances and appetites, thoughtful retirement income advice, and then providing ongoing digital tracking on the client’s mobile.
One concern is that all of this is time-consuming and expensive. We are already seeing firms struggling to serve lower-value clients as the time and cost to serve rise.
However, the answer is there in the form of technology, which allows you to deliver all of this affordably and at scale.
Firms that recognise this are moving swiftly to adopt the systems they need to get capacity back into their businesses.
In this way, they can maintain and even increase their client bases, and free up time to spend on that particularly human work of listening, empathising, consulting, challenging and, ultimately, advising. The work of building the trust and supplying the peace of mind that the client demonstrably values.
Consumer duty has come as a shock to some and a test to all. This year has required a rapid shift in mindset. But it’s also heralded the start of a wave of change that I expect to be hugely positive.
And I think that next year more progress will have been made, more value will be being delivered to clients. In two years, even more. And in five years’ time?
This industry will be unrecognisable from where we were 10 years after RDR.
Ben Goss is chief executive of Dynamic Planner
