“The industry is in the foothills of something really quite special, when you combine great advice with the right technology and aligned asset management,” Dynamic Planner CEO Ben Goss told delegates at the company’s 11th annual conference, which also marked the company’s 20th year in the industry.
As the industry embraces personal financial planning at scale, the era of product sales is over, he said.“Historically the industry was wired back to front, from the product systems and their needs to the customer, not from the customer and their needs to the product. And while RDR was undoubtedly the catalyst for change, financial planning technology with the client at the centre, allied with their adviser is now enabling real change.
The Consumer Duty is carrying that journey forward but “comes with many questions of its own,” Goss said, “not least how do firms demonstrably ensure clients get the outcomes and value they are looking for, while at the same time growing value in their own business?
“Productively servicing clients in a way that delivers the outcomes they are looking for, in an era of increasing price transparency and on the eve of regulation which scrutinises not just outcomes but value received, crystalises the challenge now.
“I am confident that as an industry we can get to grips with the productivity challenge, in part because of how we all responded to RDR, but more than that, the industry now is arguably in the best shape it has ever been with clients getting consistent ongoing services and firms benefiting from a profitable ongoing fee model.
“Technology has underpinned this transformation and it is technology that is integral in enabling the productivity we are seeing now.”
Dynamic Planner is firmly at the heart of this transformation, he added, “with our purpose the same as it was in 2003 but today stronger than ever – to help firms match people with suitable portfolios though engaging financial planning”.
“We founded Dynamic Planner almost 20 years ago today, and I am as excited now as I have ever been about the prospects for this industry and the customers we all ultimately serve.”
Dynamic Planner recently relaunched its website to mirror how its one system technology works, following the ‘advise, research, tailor’ adviser and client journey within Dynamic Planner, with various enhancements including simplified navigation and a new Support Hub.