So sitting in Hong Kong watching one of the world's financial hubs crackle with life, I starting thinking about solutions to a ever more difficult retail financial conundrum.
That is those awkward challenge facing financial services professionals of meeting consumer's desire for named, personal, trusted, relationship -based 24/7 service, and bank's desire to automate, centralise and cut costs.
I think there is a way to make this work using RDR (or at least the fall out from it) as a central tenament - namely using those advisers who do not want to be full qualified fee only independent advisers as high quality personal bankers (somewhat like the bank managers of yesterday).
Here's how this could work:
1. Give customers a useful packaged account benefit - named, personal service.
Package accounts have long been a staple of the retail financial services industry. Banks 'upgrade' us customers to premium accounts for circa 15 GBP a month for the priviledge of getting things like basic house, or mobile phone insurance. The problem is that most people dont activate all the benefits they are entitled to, and most benefits dont really cover us to the level we'd want (e.g. one bank gave me roadside assistance cover, but only from the hours of 8 to 8pm. No fun when your car breaks down at 20.17 I can tell you!)
To be continued
> Give this post the thumbs up or thumbs down
