With the increasing transfer of risk from the state, advisers have a key role to play supporting and enabling consumers, Zurich UK Life chief executive Gary Shaughnessy has said.
Speaking at Zurich’s FundZ Partnership conference in London last week, he said: “With the transfer of risk onto individuals, there is a much greater need for advice. Consumers generally do not want to take on the complexities of this new environment of risk and uncertain outcomes.”
Mr Shaughnessy, who has been at the helm of the Zurich UK Life since June 2012, said the workplace has also become increasingly important, as people recognise their company pension savings is their cash.
He said: “The workplace environment will see corporate and retail worlds coming together. This is a phenomenal opportunity to bring advisers back into the workplace.
“Insurance also becomes important – providers who can take that risk, pool it and make it affordable for the individual have a bigger role to play in this environment.”
The Zurich UK chief said merging investment and insurance solutions, particularly in retirement, would be a growing market for advisers.
“We see an increasing demand for income solutions that reduce their risk and volatility to mitigate losing the assets they’ve saved for over a long period of time,” he said, adding that this would be supported by technology.
The liberalisation of pensions, he added, was a “salient illustration” of the dichotomy between spending and saving. Although this is estimated to increase revenues to the government by £3.8bn by 2020, he warned that advisers would have a “pivotal” role in helping people to understand what the important risks were.
FundZ Partnership is an initiative working in conjunction with 15 fund managers to develop advisers’ understanding of investment planning and emerging issues for their businesses. The conference opened a wider programme of roundtables and workshops that will run across the UK through to spring 2015.
Adviser View
Dominic Basilea, director at St Albans-based Aqua Wealth Management, said: “I fully concur. The recent changes in legislation favour the need for financial advice in all areas, from mortgages to inheritance tax.
“I see my business increasing on the back of the changes, and our responsibilities increasing. It is all about making sure that clients know the importance of getting advice and the options they have. The perception is that financial advice is expensive, but if firms are following the RDR rules this is not necessarily the case, with the first consultation free, and the cost of any follow-ups clearly stated.”
