Bluerating | July 2021
The financial advisor is a highly successful professional figure. Indeed, the level of satisfaction of the clients of financial advisors is, on average, higher than the level of satisfaction of clients assisted by other professional figures. Every year the industry of financial consultancy reaches a new record of assets under management and 2021 is no exception.
The secret of its success – unique in Europe – lies in the financial professional as well as in the service model adopted by financial networks. Year after year, they have been able to anticipate change, not least that brought by the pandemic.
The ability to operate offsite has long been seen as a competitive advantage rather than a weakness compared to those who operate in bank branches.
Of course, not all financial professionals can become financial advisor: in fact, the ability to question oneself and give up a steady salary is not for everyone.
Likewise, not all financial professionals are able to adapt to change. In this case, too, the most skilled financial advisors lead the way: once free agents, they soon understood the centrality of teamwork in order to play in the big leagues.
The best financial advisors can be leaders or star players of their team, but scoring is much harder for free agents.
Indeed, among the most relevant characteristics of the financial advisor of tomorrow is his/her ability to work as a team.
The multiplicity of needs of clients – asset management, protection, succession, generational handover – can hardly find an answer in one single professional.
Moreover, every professional has different attitudes: some are more prone to managing old clients; some look for new clients; some specialize in issues pertaining to protection (insurance etc.) or credit (loans, mortgages); some prefer assisting single individuals, some other prefer assisting companies.
Together with the advantages of the so-called multidisciplinarity, the team can benefit from intragenerational advantages through the inclusion of junior professionals who can support senior professionals and ensure a dialogue with their peers, the children or grandchildren of elderly clients.
The team is, after all, the last gem in the crown of a service model based on the home-grown financial advisor.
The Italian industry of financial consultancy has no equal in Europe. It is more similar to the US model, in which the team is the rule rather than the exception.
In light of this, it is no surprise that among financial advisors the propensity to work in team with specialists has grown, in two years, from 38% to 64% together with the desire to involve younger colleagues (from 34% to 69%).
The financial advisor of tomorrow does not dance alone.
Nicola Ronchetti