A recent article in the Toronto Star mentions how most Canadian investors believe their only cost of investing in mutual funds is the management expense ratio (MER), which goes to the asset manager. This article shines a bright light on the costs of investing and the need for investment advisors to illustrate the value of the […]
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The long simmering debate over the high cost of Canadian mutual funds may soon come to a head, bringing more dramatic change to an already fast-evolving wealth management industry. The Ontario Securities Commission, acting on behalf of the Canadian Securities Administrators commissioned The Brondesbury Group to review existing research on mutual funds compensation and yesterday they […]
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The ‘exchange of value’ (e.g. relationship drivers between buyer and seller) in the investment industry used to be straightforward: financial advisors were the de facto experts providing investment advice and ideally, positive returns, in exchange for payment from the investor in the form of fees (explicit or otherwise). This generally led to relatively stable, unquestioned […]
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The notion of ‘customer experience’ has long been regarded as an ethereal, intangible concept by many industry segments, including financial services. The historic absence of being able to tie quantitative results from customer experience efforts to business objectives and financial outcomes has certainly been a contributing factor. That line of thought is changing…rapidly. Consider […]
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There’s a lot written these days around the challenges in effectively reaching Millennials (those born roughly between the early 1980s and early 2000s). Having grown up in a technologically-enabled world with an unprecedented amount of information and options at their fingertips (literally, it just takes a swipe), they have a distinct set of experiences and […]
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One of the oldest sayings in the wealth management industry is “Mutual funds are sold and not bought”, implying that investors’ purchase decisions are made primarily as a result of recommendations made by financial advisors and less so the desires of investors. Notwithstanding the value of advice in helping investors reach investment decisions, traditional wealth […]
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A recent JD Powers Investor Satisfaction Survey found that investors want transparency surrounding their fees and portfolio performance. When advisors are “transparent” and provide clients with these details the client satisfaction ratings increase on average from 65% to 95%! Dealers and investment management firms are coaching advisors on that very topic to help them with […]
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In a recent article on loyalty programs, solutions provider Colloquy stated that that 81% of consumers know that their data is an asset to organizations but that 67% of those same consumers do not feel they are getting any benefit for sharing it. In our opinion, this shortcoming isn’t just indicative of loyalty programs, but of marketing […]
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The pending Point of Sale (POS3) regulatory deadline (May 2016) is keeping compliance professionals busy designing new workflows and evaluating solutions that support a shift from the Back Office to the Front Office. This is driving a major change in how compliance is managed and also the speed at which all compliance events must be […]
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I read a blog post recently on innovation called “Where To Look For The Next Big Thing” which was a great reminder for all of us in the technology field who specialize in any business vertical – whether it’s financial services, automotive or consumer packaged goods. All of us have an opportunity to bring new […]
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