Adviser satisfaction with institutionally branded licensees has plunged to less than 25 per cent in the last 12 months, while levels at independently owned licensees have remained steady according to Coredata managing director Andrew Inwood.

Presenting at the Professional Planner Licensee Forum in Katoomba this morning, Inwood revealed data on adviser responses to the question; ‘Overall, how satisfied are you with your licensee?’

“For institutionally aligned [licensees] it fell off a cliff,” Inwood began. “It went up last year and then fell down.”

After rising from 65.6 per cent to 70.3 per cent over 2018, satisfaction with institutionally affiliated licensees dropped to 48 per cent in 2019. The news was even worse for institutionally branded licensees as satisfaction levels went from a high of 66.7 per cent in 2018 to 22.7 per cent today.

“Institutionally branded went up steeply last year and has absolutely collapsed,’ Inwood continued.

Satisfaction levels at independent licensees remained steady at around 70 per cent over the period; from 71.6 per cent in 2017 to 69.3 per cent in 2018 and the same again in 2019.

“People are positioning themselves for the future, but satisfaction among the groups isn’t equally distributed and it’s really important to understand that,” he said.

The main drivers of satisfaction in licensees this year, according to advisers, were communications (25.3 per cent) and compliance support (28.2 per cent). This is the first-time communications was ranked in the top two satisfaction drivers, Inwood noted.

Another survey asking advisers to rate the overall support provided by their license had similar results as the satisfaction survey, with support provided by institutionally branded licensees dropping to 27.3 per cent after being 69 per cent in 2018. Institutionally affiliated support dropped to 52.6 per cent, while independently owned licensees again remained steady at 68.8 per cent, down only slightly from 71.6 per cent.

“The trend is clear,” Inwood said. “Independently owned hasn’t really moved, while institutionally owned support has fallen and institutionally branded has absolutely collapsed.”

One comment on “Satisfaction with institutional licensees craters”
    Christoph Schnelle

    I wonder if this is a direct fallout of the Royal Commission – the more directly your licensee was named the lower the satisfaction. If your licensee is one of those pilloried by name that would be devastating for many. If they are one removed (institutionally owned licensee) they would be affected, but not as deeply while those licensees not at all named did not feel an impact. Presumably the advisers don’t blame the latter for the loss of reputation for advisers as a whole.

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