Stepping up in wealth management

In fact, Edward Jones advisors lauded their firm’s focus on wealth-management services, particularly its client consultation team, which collaborates with professionals, such as lawyers and accountants, to help advisors better serve their clients.

“We have a client consultation team for complex cases. With this new program, I’ve really deepened my relationship with my clients,” says an Edward Jones advisor in British Columbia.

Edward Jones advisors also praised their firm’s new insurance specialist program. One of its key features for advisors is that they don’t have to split the commissions with the firm’s insurance specialists.

“Since the insurance specialist program has been implemented, I’ve seen my insurance revenue increase. As a firm, we are making this an area of emphasis,” says an Edward Jones advisor in Ontario.

As a result of this new program, life insurance policy applications have soared at Edward Jones, says David Lane, the firm’s managing principal in Canada: “We’ve set records with the number of applications. We focus on the applications, not revenue, because we see an incredible correlation to the number of referrals we have if clients’ needs are solved.”

Advisors with Toronto-based Raymond James Ltd. also offered much praise for their firm’s wealth-management services. In particular, they laud their firm’s accessible and knowledgeable specialists.

“The wills and estate specialist is very good and knows her stuff. She will fly in whenever we need her,” says a Raymond James advisor in B.C.

“Our tax planning support is incredible. The woman at the helm is timely, quick to get things out and will look at individual situations. She’s responsive and accurate,” says a Raymond James advisor in Ontario.

Providing top-notch tax planning support – especially for HNW clients with unique needs – is a priority for Raymond James, says Mario Addeo, senior vice president and national director, private client solutions with the firm: “We’ve created a bit of a niche in cross-border tax planning. We have excellent relationships with cross-border tax planning specialists.”

Cross-border tax issues are becoming particularly important these days, with tax authorities in Canada and the U.S. placing greater emphasis on getting more information about taxpayers’ foreign investments. In that light, advisors with Toronto-based Richardson GMP Ltd., praised year after year for its significant investments in wealth-management services, commend their firm for focusing on tax planning.

“This is improving,” says a Richardson GMP advisor in Ontario. “Some of the new tax stuff that the [Canada Revenue Agency] and [Internal Revenue Service] are coming up with are ridiculous. The firm is providing us with spreadsheets, a T1135 reporting tool, a foreign-ownership spreadsheet, which is all going to be very useful for anyone with clients who have more than $100,000 in non-Canadian assets.”

Although advisors at some firms offered great praise for their firms’ investments in in-house wealth-management expertise, other advisors said their firms’ efforts in these services leave much to be desired.

A common complaint was that the wealth-management specialists and services are difficult to access for advisors who don’t work in major financial centres.

“We have a financial help desk; however, it is based in Toronto,” says an advisor in another city in Ontario with Toronto-based BMO Nesbitt Burns Inc. “It would be better to talk with these specialists in person. This should be available in all of the major cities.”

An advisor on the Prairies with Toronto-based TD Wealth Private Investment Advice (TD Wealth PIA) echoes these sentiments: “We do have accountants on staff and an accounting firm that the firm uses, but they’re all based in Vancouver. It’s difficult to have a relationship with them if they’re in a different province.”

Another concern among TD Wealth PIA advisors was that access to these services for mid-level clients is very limited. Says an advisor in Ontario: “The wealth advisory services group is getting so overwhelmed that they’ve pushed the net-worth limits up so they can receive less referrals.”

Dave Kelly, TD Wealth PIA’s president and national sales manager, is well aware of advisors’ frustrations in this area. As a result, the firm is working to improve advisors’ access to specialists, possibly through video conferences, Kelly says: “We’re thinking of ways to support advisors from more of a technological perspective.”

© 2015 Investment Executive. All rights reserved.