The Advisors’ Report Card is a summation of Investment Executive’s (IE) three 2024 Report Cards. Between Jan. 2 and June 21, IE interviewed 1,342 financial advisors and financial planners across 31 firms in conducting the 2024 Brokerage Report Card, Dealers’ Report Card and Report Card on Banks. The Report Cards were published in June, September and October, respectively.
To participate in the Report Cards, respondents must have worked with the firms or banks for which they were giving ratings for at least one year. They also were required to have worked in the industry for at least three years, among other licensing and channel-specific requirements.
The interviews were conducted by seven research journalists: Emily Fox, Roland Inacay, Aru Kaul, Tiana Kirton, Diane Lalonde, Alisha Mughal and Clayton Tomlinson. They asked advisors and planners to provide a performance rating and an importance rating for the categories that applied to the firms or banks for which they worked or processed business. The ratings could range between zero (meaning “poor” or “unimportant”) and 10 (meaning “excellent” or “critically important”). Advisors also were asked to rate the likelihood that they would recommend their firms to other advisors.
The Advisors’ Report Card examines the 26 categories relevant to all or most industry channels. There are four categories that don’t apply to the advisors and planners working within the Big Six banks’ retail divisions, covered in the Report Card on Banks. One category (“bonus structure”) is no longer included, as of 2024, in the Dealers’ Report Card.
This year, IE removed one category: “diversity, equity & inclusion [DEI] policies.” It was replaced by the “diversity, equity & inclusion practices” category, in which advisors were asked to assess the actions and hiring practices they see at their firms in this regard. This category’s results do not objectively measure a firm’s DEI approach and policies, and are not comparable to past years’ data. The new category is based on advisors’ experiences and sentiment.
One supplemental question was posed to advisors in all channels: they were asked to rate, on an ascending scale from zero to 10 in which five meant neutral/unsure, whether their firm or bank was making sufficient efforts to increase security and combat cyberattacks.
The brokerage and dealer advisors were asked one of two additional questions: 1) whether their advisor team had grown within the past year (if they worked on a team with other licensed advisors); or 2) whether they planned to join or form a team of licensed advisors (if they worked independently).
Meanwhile, the retail bank advisors were asked a different additional question, which focused on the transition period for use of the financial advisor title, for those in Ontario who do not hold approved planning credentials. Given that the transition period ended in Ontario on March 28, 2024, retail bank advisors were asked whether their job title had changed or been affected.
See the main table results for the Advisors’ Report Card, illustrating how each industry channel fared in this year’s research.
This article appears in the November issue of Investment Executive. Subscribe to the print edition, read the digital edition or read the articles online.