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Topics: IFP| Nick Cann| Hargreaves Lansdown| Prestwood
A ranking system for IFAs and planners is inevitable post-RDR, according to a number of leading industry figures.
Speaking at an Aviva panel on e-commerce and technology, Danny Cox (pictured), head of advice at Hargreaves Lansdown, said the industry needed "far more" customer feedback.
"Whenever you buy something like a carpet, there's a star rating for the distributor, and a star rating for the product. The financial services industry needs to catch up," he said.
Chairman of software company the Prestwood Group, Paul Etheridge, said choosing a financial planner, and successful planning in general, must be more than guesswork.
Pressed on the practicalities of how a rating system would work - and how advisers would avoid reputational damage caused by fraudulent reviews - Nick Cann, chief executive of the Institute of Financial Planning (IFP) said advisers would look to their community to support them.
"If you are rubbish, you will get consistent one star reviews and people will see it," he said.
Adam Price, who founded IFA comparison site VouchedFor in June, said consumers would eventually find advisers in the same way they book a holiday or a restaurant, through comparing ratings and reviews.
"We found it wasn't easy for advisers to get the word out there, or consumers to find them", he told IFAOnline. "As an industry, we spend very little on marketing"
Vouchedfor, currently in beta testing, has around 90 IFAs signed up, and asks clients to rate their advisers in a number of categories and award a star rating.
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| Comment | Advisers will be star-rated post-RDR, says panel |
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Why re-invent the wheel?
Why have an IFA only rating system, when there are systems which are free a client would look at for other needs? Systems like Linked in allow individuals to ask their contacts to reccomend them. We've been doing this for a number of years and use our clients own words on our personal profiles. http://uk.linkedin.com/in/philcastle Some people don't reply, I've never had a bad reply and there's only one I haven't posted and that's only because my client's spelling was worse than mine! We used to use the feedback from the Trading Standars "Buy with Confidence Scheme", but becuase of my disagreement with the FSA over the issue of the longstop and the fact clients need to be aware of it, even IF the FSA are not forced to reintstae it meant that it was necessary to wirthdraw from the scheme. Why have an IFA only rating system, when there are systems which are free a client would look at for other needs?
Posted by: Phil Castle
What next ?
More lurkers talking crap for some free column inches.Why do these clowns latch onto our industry and how do they survive? QCF4,Chartered,SPS and now star ratings....b*****ks. There's 5 stars!
Posted by: Peter Taylor
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I'm no carpet.
Another patently obvious money grubbing exercise. Do Solicitors, accountants, dentists, doctors, surveyors have stars? How do you choose one of those? The same way many people choose IFAs – via recommendation or referral either from existing clients or professional connections. It has been my experience that those lawyers and accountants who are ‘pushy’ and ‘sell’ their services by offering them unbidden are usually the ones to avoid – and why would it be different for us? Therefore if this is the case this proposal is already superfluous.
Posted by: Harry Katz