Big opportunity for advisers: Mercer

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A changing employment environment may provide new business opportunities for financial advisers.

Monday, February 19th 2018, 6:00AM 2 Comments

by Susan Edmunds

Wealth and employment consultancy firm Mercer has released new research that investigates how organisations can distinguish themselves as technologies, including AI and robotics, disrupt industries and redefine value chains.

Martin Lewington, managing director of Mercer in New Zealand, said there was a huge opportunity for financial advice businesses.

Employers were dealing with new challenges, he said, as more countries returned to full employment and it was harder to find and keep the right people.

"They want to be an employer of choice, they want to be a great place for people to work."

Data showed that employees spent an average 13 hours a month worrying about money and the future of their savings, he said. "Just imagine if the employer was in a position to provide financial advice to employees... that's where advisers could play a role and build a relationship to provide that. There's immediate scale."

He said workplace schemes often missed out on tailored advice. "It's quite easy to do one-to-many but it doesn't cut the mustard today. It's got to be tailored."

Financial advisers using digital tools and the data available to the employer could offer quite specific services to employees, he said. "They could tap into a lot of raw data and have a nuanced conversation enabling these employees to get a better outcome. That's a real opposition for them to reposition where they are."

Good relationships with employers could also help financial advisers build more sustainable business models and achieve the size required to take on more staff. That would help some with their succession concerns, he said.

New Zealand's workforce was ageing, which Lewington said increased the need for financial advice in many cases as they looked for help to transition out of the full-time workforce.

"We talk about disruption but I see it as really exciting with real potential to genuinely enhance people's lives.

“In an era of disruption, it is more important than ever before for companies to take a leading role in caring for the health, wealth and careers of their workforce in order to thrive."

Tags: financial advisers Mercer recruitment

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