The market volatility has likely not helped advisors’ businesses during the pandemic, when revenues are based largely on assets they have under management. But advisors say there’s another culprit hurting their business—bad technology.
Seventy-seven percent of North American advisors surveyed by Broadridge indicated that they have lost business as a result of not having the proper technology necessary to communicate with clients. Those advisors reported losing an average fifth of their book of business.
In fact, half of advisors (51%) say they’re thinking of leaving their current firm for one with better technology. That number rises to nearly six in 10 (59%) for advisors under age 40.
“Financial advisors are reliant on their firms for technology that allows them to best serve their clients wherever they may physically be and whatever market conditions are like that day,” said Michael Alexander, president of Wealth Management at Broadridge Financial Solutions, in a statement. “In the fallout from the pandemic, wealth firms are going to face increased pressures to invest in modernizing their advisor technology or risk losing their advisors to firms that already have next-generation wealth platforms.”
Younger advisors are communicating with their clients more frequently during the pandemic, with 51% of millennial advisors communicating daily, while 62% of boomer advisors are speaking with clients monthly or less.
The Broadridge survey was based on responses from 254 financial planners and advisors in the U.S. and Canada and was fielded in June.