Nine in 10 (91%) advisers are affected by poor service from platforms on a daily basis, new research from Parmenion has revealed.
In addition, 88% of advisers need to apologise to at least one of their clients on behalf of a platform every day.
Martin Jennings, CEO of Parmenion, said: “We know that trust in financial services is too low. But to be trusted, you must act in a trustworthy manner and when part of the chain is broken, trust is eroded.”
Jennings said the research “lays bare the challenges” advisers face in delivering their services to clients and highlights the unseen cost of poor service across platforms.
Parmenion found that one in three advisers had stopped using a platform provider because of poor service. The biggest issues were around post-sale servicing, needing to chase business held up in existing queues and technology glitches and process challenges.
Sarah Lyons, chief marketing officer at Parmenion, added: “In the era of Consumer Duty, service must be a top priority for all financial services firms. It is disappointing that so many advisers, working hard to deliver outstanding outcomes to their clients, are being let down by many of the platforms on which they rely.
“It is very difficult to assess platform service before experiencing it. It is also true that good service to one adviser might not mean good service to another. We are calling on the platform industry to be more open about their service delivery, and to work together to improve it. Many of the challenges relate to sector level issues, such as transfers. If we can understand exactly where service is falling short, and what impact this has on customers, we can collectively raise standards across the adviser platform space.”
