The key to establishing or maintaining a firm’s strong public image is having a solid reputation that inspires trust, say advisors surveyed for this year’s Brokerage Report Card. This was especially the case this past year, as some firms maintained a solid footing in the face of the global financial crisis.
Case in point: this year’s top-rated firm in the “image with the public” category is Toronto-based RBC Dominion Securities Inc. Indeed, a DS advisor in Quebec says the firm’s parent bank, Royal Bank of Canada, has “one of the strongest brands. During the downturn we had lots of people coming to us because we were with the big banks.”
“DS has benefited from a flight to quality,” adds David Agnew, the firm’s CEO and national director, adding that in Canada: “The banks, and RBC in particular, came through the downturn in very good shape.”
Even advisors with smaller firms appreciated their investment dealers’ ability to dodge the negative attention directed toward the financial services industry recently. For instance, an advisor in British Columbia with Calgary-based Leede Financial Markets Inc. says the firm’s strength in the public image category is based, in part, on this reason: “We’ve never been sued or dragged through the newspaper.”
Other Leede advisors say the firm’s ability to establish and maintain a strong image is based partly on its grassroots approach to building its brand. “We’re involved in golf tournaments and are well known in the community,” says another Leede advisor in B.C. “I love working at a firm that is highly regarded.”
Much like advisors with DS and Leede, those with Toronto-based Richardson GMP Ltd. cite the strength of their firm’s reputation as the reason for its strong rating in the public image category. Says an advisor in Ontario: “We have one of the cleanest track records.”
But the firm, which came together last year after the merger between Richardson Partners Financial Ltd. and GMP Private Client LP, has some work to do in this area.
“We have a challenge now to highlight who we are with our own clients,” says James Werry, Richardson GMP’s CEO. “We are investing in a process with branding consultants to build a brand around our company’s values.”
Toronto-based Macquarie Private Wealth Inc. is also facing a similar challenge. The firm, formerly known as Blackmont Capital Inc., was rebranded after Australia-based financial services powerhouse Macquarie Group acquired the brokerage in 2009.
Advisors at Macquarie are positive about the new brand, but they have some doubts. For instance, they rated their firm’s image with the public at 7.9 — 0.7 points lower than last year’s 8.6. They say they want the firm to create more public awareness of its name. “Very few of my clients have heard of Macquarie,” says an advisor in Ontario, “but the firm is working very hard on that.”
Indeed, Bruce Kagan, Macquarie’s CEO, says the firm is employing many approaches to promote itself to the public and to its clients: “When we launched the Macquarie brand, we had a full-page ad for two consecutive days in the Globe and Mail. We’re also investing substantially in local communities.”
Several Macquarie advisors have noticed the advertising blitz and see it as a good move. Says an advisor in Ontario: “They’ve been spending pretty good money on promoting the Macquarie takeover, letting people know.”
Advisors with Vancouver-based Canaccord Financial Ltd. would like to see their firm adopt a similar strategy, as the rating of the firm’s public image was the lowest in the category — an unenviable feat that was repeated from 2009.
Advisors say Canaccord’s troubles with asset-backed commercial paper in the past couple of years remains a concern. (Canaccord clients held $269 million in ABCP; the firm reimbursed clients holding less than $1 million in ABCP, reportedly for a total of $59.5 million. )
“The image is not so good because of the ABCPs,” says a Canaccord advisor in B.C. “And we have not really defined our brand to our clients because we are going through changes.”
These include the rebranding of Canaccord’s private-client services division as Canaccord Wealth Management. Says Jim Beamish, the firm’s vice president of marketing: “[We] spent a lot of money on rebranding. We made a significant six-figure investment on our website.”
Although Canaccord advisors believe in the wealth-management platform, they want it promoted more publicly. “It would have been useful to take out a full-page ad,” says an advisor in B.C., “especially when we were rebranding.”