{"id":427147,"date":"2021-08-30T00:06:00","date_gmt":"2021-08-30T04:06:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.investmentexecutive.com\/?p=427147"},"modified":"2021-08-26T13:22:28","modified_gmt":"2021-08-26T17:22:28","slug":"satisfaction-grows-for-bank-advisors-but-barriers-remain","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.investmentexecutive.com\/newspaper_\/report-card-on-banks\/satisfaction-grows-for-bank-advisors-but-barriers-remain\/","title":{"rendered":"Satisfaction grows for bank advisors, but barriers remain"},"content":{"rendered":"

Branch-based financial advisors and planners at the Big Six banks have been holding their own since Covid-19 turned the world on its head, but that doesn\u2019t mean the banks can relax, according to research from Investment Executive<\/em>\u2019s 2021 Report Card on Banks.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe industry needs to be aware of client behaviours and how they\u2019ve changed over the last year,\u201d said an advisor in Quebec with National Bank of Canada. \u201cEmployers should adapt but it seems management is still using 2019 metrics. They have to understand times have changed.\u201d<\/p>\n

This year marked a return for the Report Card; data was not collected in 2020 due to the pandemic. As such, this year\u2019s results chart contains no year-over-year comparisons.<\/p>\n

Comparisons with 2019 data, however, revealed more positive advisor sentiment in 2021, despite the pandemic. None of the six banks experienced a significant decline in their IE<\/em> ratings compared with two years ago (an IE<\/em> rating is the average of all of a bank\u2019s category ratings). What\u2019s more, 25 categories \u2014 up from 20 in 2019 \u2014 saw significant improvements (of half a point or more) in their average ratings. Only 15 categories experienced a significant decline, down from 33 in 2019.<\/p>\n

The three best-performing categories in 2021 were \u201cEthics\u201d (9.3) \u201cBranch manager\u201d (8.8) and \u201cReputation with clients\u201d (8.8), all with similar ratings to 2019. The worst-performing categories were \u201cBack office & administrative support\u201d (6.9) and \u201cSocial media support\u201d (7.2).<\/p>\n

The average book of business for survey participants gained ground since the last Report Card (see story<\/a>). Yet, while book values have risen, advisors expressed concern over changes to their firms\u2019 product shelves. Most of the banks have been reviewing their fund shelves to address the Canadian Securities Administrators\u2019 client-focused reforms.<\/p>\n

Toronto-Dominion Bank\u2019s TD Wealth Financial Planning division announced in March it would tighten rules around third-party product use as of June 30. TD subsequently reduced its product shelf by 15%. This change had many advisors up in arms, a sentiment that was reflected in the bank\u2019s 6.5 rating for \u201cFreedom to make objective product choices\u201d \u2014 the lowest rating in that category this year (see story<\/a>).<\/p>\n

Branch-based advisors also voiced opinions about changes to their compensation packages. While compensation and bonuses have traditionally been based on metrics tied to performance and product sales, banks are now considering additional factors such as the completion rate of client financial plans and the results of client satisfaction surveys.<\/p>\n

\u201c[The] client satisfaction rating affects [our] bonus,\u201d said an advisor in Ontario with CIBC Imperial Service, a division of CIBC. \u201cI like that structure, because the financial planning that we provide provides value, and our bonus goes up based on that.\u201d CIBC was rated 9.1 for \u201cTotal compensation,\u201d leading the pack in 2021, and 9.1 for \u201cBonus structure,\u201d a revamped category for this year. (See the \u201cHow we did it<\/a>\u201d sidebar.)<\/p>\n

Bank branches were deemed essential services, so many Report Card on Banks respondents continued to go to their workplaces, unlike other advisors surveyed for the Report Card series.<\/p>\n

Advisors were asked to rate the pandemic support they received from their banks. By and large, they were happy, giving an average rating of 8.8 (this rating does not appear on the main chart). Investments in technology and additional health support, such as enhanced wellness accounts, contributed to the strong rating. (See story<\/a>.)<\/p>\n

\u201cWe were up to date with technology right away and had sessions for mental health. [There was] lots of support,\u201d said an advisor in Ontario with Royal Bank of Canada\u2019s RBC Financial Planning division. RBC\u2019s pandemic support had the highest rating of all banks at 9.6.<\/p>\n

Many advisors with Bank of Nova Scotia and Bank of Montreal reported to their branches, while the other four banks offered more work-from-home flexibility.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe kept basically everything open,\u201d said a Scotiabank advisor in B.C. \u201cThe bank did a good job getting [personal protective equipment] and things like that for us, so the clients are happy, but employees in the frontline still had to come in.\u201d Scotiabank was rated 8.2 for pandemic support.<\/p>\n

As banks adjusted to meet the changing needs of clients over the past year, advisors too seemed to reprioritize the resources they deemed most important.<\/p>\n

For example, the importance rating for \u201cSupport for wills & estate planning\u201d fell to 8.7, compared with 8.9 in 2019. The category also had a smaller satisfaction gap (the amount by which a category\u2019s importance rating exceeds its performance rating) of 1.0 compared with 1.3 in 2019.<\/p>\n

Even so, some advisors expressed a desire for more support in this area.<\/p>\n

\u201c[Resources for wills and estate planning are] not as prevalent in banks as they should be,\u201d said an advisor with Scotiabank in Ontario. Scotiabank was rated lowest out of all banks for wills and estate support at 7.2.<\/p>\n

A CIBC advisor in Ontario said wills and estate planning are \u201ca big priority, because clients have a lot of questions. It can be overwhelming for them.\u201d<\/p>\n

CIBC was the highest-rated bank in the category with a rating of 9.0.<\/p>\n

\n

<\/a><\/p>\n

How we did it<\/h3>\n

Research for Investment Executive<\/em>\u2019s 2021 Report Card on Banks (RCB) was conducted by five research journalists: Camille C\u00f4t\u00e9, James Gaughan, Emily Fox, Surina Nath and Daniel Reale-Chin. The researchers held phone interviews with 244 financial planners and advisors with Canada\u2019s Big Six banks between March 29 and May 3.<\/p>\n

Advisors interviewed were branch-based employees with the banks\u2019 retail divisions. Advisors with the Bank of Nova Scotia, unlike other survey respondents, serve assigned groups of clients out of a collective base and cannot provide individual book data.<\/p>\n

This year marks the return of the RCB; the research team suspended the 2020 edition due to Covid-19. The pandemic has continued to affect the research, which has resulted in the 2021 survey sample being smaller than in previous years. Pandemic burnout may have taken a toll on branch-based financial planners at banks, who are classified as essential frontline workers.<\/p>\n

Advisors were asked how they felt about the support services and programs offered by their firms. Survey participants provided two ratings \u2014 one for performance and one for importance \u2014 on a scale of zero to 10 for each of the 29 categories included on the main chart (excluding the IE<\/em> rating and Net Promoter Score). Advisors were asked to provide ratings only for the services with which they had direct experience.<\/p>\n

As part of ongoing efforts to improve the research, the team removed four categories: \u201cSupport for developing an investment plan for clients,\u201d \u201cFirm\u2019s delivery on promises,\u201d \u201cOnline account access for clients\u201d and \u201cFirm\u2019s reward\/recognition program.\u201d The rewards category was replaced with \u201cBonus structure,\u201d which had previously been included under \u201cTotal compensation.\u201d Similarly, the online account access and \u201cClient account statements\u201d categories were merged. Finally, the team added the \u201cClient onboarding tools\u201d category.<\/p>\n

Some category names were rephrased to better reflect the service being rated. For example, \u201cFirm\u2019s marketing support for advisor\u2019s practice\u201d is now \u201cBusiness development support\u201d and \u201cFirm\u2019s stability\u201d is now \u201cLeadership stability.\u201d<\/p>\n

Other categories in the main chart were renamed for simplicity, but the criteria being evaluated did not change.<\/p>\n

The two supplementary questions for 2021 were designed to gain insight on current industry trends. Advisors were asked to rate how well their firms supported them during the Covid-19 pandemic. They also were asked how well their firms prepared them for the Canadian Securities Administrators\u2019 new conflict-of-interest requirements, which took effect June 30.<\/p>\n

\u2014 Fiona Collie, Katie Keir<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Advisors and planners have some unmet expectations when it comes to their banks\u2019 support services<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":73592,"featured_media":427516,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[3052,3013],"tags":[3053,2678,2361],"yst_prominent_words":[10117,88015,88014,88013,88012,88011,88010,88009,87694,87693,87690,87687,26893,2,8326,8320,7992,6117,6014,6006],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.investmentexecutive.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/427147"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.investmentexecutive.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.investmentexecutive.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.investmentexecutive.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/73592"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.investmentexecutive.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=427147"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.investmentexecutive.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/427147\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":427602,"href":"https:\/\/www.investmentexecutive.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/427147\/revisions\/427602"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.investmentexecutive.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/427516"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.investmentexecutive.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=427147"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.investmentexecutive.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=427147"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.investmentexecutive.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=427147"},{"taxonomy":"yst_prominent_words","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.investmentexecutive.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/yst_prominent_words?post=427147"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}