Scores for online ac–cess to client accounts have seen a significant increase this year, but not all advisors who were surveyed for Investment Executive’s Insurance Advisors’ Report Card are buying in.

“Personally, I want my clients to call me instead of wanting to log online all the time,” says an advisor in Ontario with Freedom 55 Financial, which rolled out online account access this year. “There haven’t been any complaints about the new service, but I’m not sure how many clients know it exists.”

Online account access — a tool that allows clients to do everything from accessing their investment statements to checking the status of their insurance policies — is getting mixed reviews from advisors.

In the first camp are the online enthusiasts who say the tool is rounding out their service offering and giving them a competitive edge.

“The clients who wanted it are extremely happy with what they have recently received,” says a Freedom 55 advisor in Ontario.

Advisors in the second camp are indifferent to the concept. They say there isn’t a huge demand for online access and that it could bur-den them with unnecessary questions from clients.

“Most clients go through me, so they don’t need to log on to their accounts,” says a State Farm Insurance Cos. agent in Ontario. “It’s not of great importance to me — and I don’t think my clients care much for it, either.”

Despite the differing opinions, many firms are plowing ahead and ramping up their online offerings, and the scores are following suit. Overall scores for clients’ online account access jumped to 7.6 this year from 5.8 in 2006.

State Farm is on its way to having its clients fully connected on the Web, although currently only policyholders in the U.S. are able to access information online.

“We do have online access to an extent,” says Peter Karageorgos, State Farm’s public affairs supervisor in Aurora, Ont. “Canadian clients can currently access their investment accounts through AIM Funds Management Inc. [see page 26], through which we offer a group of funds. As for insurance policyholders, online access is available in the U.S., so I can’t see it being that far off for our Canadian clients.”

Freedom 55 is fresh off the launch of its online insurance access and is in the process of providing clients access to their mutual fund accounts, which are held through Quadrus Investment Services Ltd. So far, the offering is being “very well received,” says Nick Pszeniczny, senior vice president of wealth and estate planning in London, Ont.

Sun Life Financial (Canada) Inc. , which has offered online capability for both personal investments and insurance since 2000, received top marks for online access from its advi-sors, with a score of 8.4.

Sun Life clients with personal investments can check when their investments mature, look at account balances and view details of each investment in their accounts. Those with retirement income plans can view the details for regularly scheduled income payments, and check their account balances. Clients with personal life insurance policies can review their premiums, see the components of their coverage and view information about their advisors. Clients can even e-mail a Sun Life advisor through a secure online system.

“We wanted to enhance the client service offering and position the organization to leverage the shifting technology landscape, which is moving to a more Web-based environment,” says Wayne Douglas, director of national operations, career sales force, in Waterloo, Ont.

But soaring online access scores don’t mean advisors think clients having online access to their accounts is important. The category scored close to last place in importance among both dedicated agents and those with MGAs, with scores of 7.8 and 8.3, respectively.

That’s reassuring news for the MGAs, which trail firms with dedicated sales forces in online access performance scores. Only PPI Financial Group Inc. offers online account access, although this was only recently launched and is offered only to group benefit clients. Called Benefits Portfolio, the program is ideal for a company with basic group insurance needs. It allows employees, key executives and the insurance agent access to their benefit information at any time.

“We felt this was a benefit at the client level and at the agent level,” says Jim Burton, PPI’s chairman and CEO in Toronto. “I think it is a neat concept … an effective communication and administration tool.”

@page_break@World Financial Group Inc. has been reviewing online account access for some time and plans to connect its clients soon. Clients will be able to access information about their policies and print out their statements. IE