Although every deposit-taking institution in this year’s Account Managers’ Report Card did very well in the individual product-related categories of quality of product offering, freedom to make objective product choices for clients and bringing new investment products to market, two Toronto-based banks did exceptionally well when the scores were averaged out: Royal Bank of Canada and Bank of Montreal.
Royal Bank advisors are very pleased with the quality of their bank’s product offering, as well as with the freedom they have to choose the products they see as best for their clients. A Royal Bank advisor in Western Canada sums up the prevailing sentiment about the bank’s products: “I have the feeling that I can offer everything I need through Royal Bank. I have professional autonomy, the support of management and the products.”
As for BMO, its strong showing in the product categories is propelled by its ability to bring new investment products to market.
Jim Lund, national program director of BMO’s investment solutions network, says that as each new product comes in, it’s blended into the entire product offering: “The way we approach this is we treat the whole investment world as a basket of goods. The real key to profitability is not laying one product over another — that’s not it at all. The real key is to make sure the products fit the clients’ needs very well.”
Adds a BMO advisor in Ontario: “The bank differentiates the products from each other very well. And focusing on their unique qualities is a good starting point for sales.”
Yet another BMO account manager in Manitoba appreciates the product training that BMO offers: “The bank is responding to our clients’ needs. And it is giving us training and support so we can help clients on the new accounts we have coming out.”
The high product ratings that advisors gave their banks or credit union may be due, in part, to the fact that even though these firms are adding new products, they are not necessarily pushing one product over another. Instead, they are honing in on how clients can best use these products.
“We’re not having advisors focus on the product,” says Michael Walker, vice president and head of branch investments with Royal Bank. “We’re having them focus on what is the appropriate solution to meet their clients’ needs. That is how we have aligned it, in terms of how the advisors are compensated: to make sure they do what is right for the client. The bottom line will take care of itself.”
Royal Bank advisors are also happy with some of the new investment products that have come to market, such as the high-interest eSavings account that is available only online; clients can transfer funds into an eSavings account from any of their Royal Bank accounts without triggering fees. The bank also has funds that are tapping into clients’ social consciousness. “We were the first Canadian bank to run environmentally friendly funds,” says a Royal Bank account manager in Manitoba about RBC Jantzi Funds, a family of three socially responsible mutual funds.
But despite the high level of satisfaction among Royal Bank advisors about the bank’s products, those advisors also say the firm is a little slow in bringing new products to market.
“It does it slowly, and it could speed things up. ING’s [high-interest] accounts have been around for years,” says a Royal Bank account manager in Western Canada. “But our bank just caught on.”
Adds a Royal Bank advisor in the Maritimes: “We are usually the last to know. When we receive the marketing material, the product has already been launched and, sometimes, the client knows about it before we do. It is not well timed.”
But this dissatisfaction is tempered by advisors who feel they have the freedom to make objective product choices for their clients. “We aren’t confined by what we can offer,” says a Royal Bank account manager in British Columbia. “I am able to choose what I feel is right for the client without being compensated differently between proprietary and third-party [products].”
Freedom to make objective product choices is clearly a big hit with Vancouver-based Vancouver City Savings Credit Union advisors, who gave their CU glowing reviews.
Michael Atkinson, director of investment solutions with Vancity, says the CU is especially dedicated to keeping its advisors’ options open when it comes to selecting mutual funds: “We have a full array of mutual funds available, and we don’t have any incentives or commissions set up to favour one fund company over the other, including our in-house brand. So, the reps are able to choose whatever funds or products that fit their members’ needs.”
A Vancity advisor in B.C. could not agree more, noting that the CU has “the best choice of products I have ever seen in the country. Its set-up is the best; I can sell anything I want.”
Vancity has also carved out a niche for itself by emphasizing socially responsible investing. “On the SRI side,” Atkinson notes, “we have our own family of funds.”
The focus on SRI is one way in which Atkinson sees Vancity differentiating itself from its competitors; and that fact is not lost on its advi-sors. “Vancity has worked hard recently to launch SRI products,” says a Vancity advisor in B.C. “It does put effort and resources around that.”
Vancity has undergone changes in management during the past year; it welcomed Tamara Vrooman as its new CEO on Sept. 1, 2007. And as the CU continues to stabilize the upper echelons of its leadership, one Vancity advisor sees a lot of potential for the firm to excel further in its products offerings: “It has a good history of bringing new investment products to market; we were the first for online banking. The message of the new CEO is to get back to innovating.” IE