Advisers have nothing to fear from Aviva’s plans to scale up its national advice business, the provider has said.
At a time when some advisers are still smarting from their interactions with Standard Life and Aegon, it is perhaps understandable to see why Aviva’s own plans have been met with a degree of scepticism from advisers and providers alike.
But Andy Barton who is heading up the firm's national advice plans is keen to clear up any misconceptions about Aviva’s own plans.
Mr Barton said: “If somebody does not have an adviser and they need advice, particularly if they have reached retirement, we are there to help.
If somebody does not have an adviser and they need advice, particularly if they have reached retirement, we are there to help“Before anyone gets to speak to one of our advisers, or contact centres, we first try to establish if they have an adviser. And if they have, we will always direct the customer to go to their adviser.”
The debate about provider-owned advisory firms has been circling for some time.
The argument has centred on how much the firms will compete with their own adviser partners, whether they can give clients a full service and how they manage conflicts of interests that arise.
Pension provider Aegon came under fire in July for allegedly poaching clients from advisers via an automatic upgrade process.
Standard Life has also faced criticisms in the past for trying to poach adviser clients.
In an exclusive interview with Financial Adviser Mr Barton spoke about his plans for the advice business, Aviva’s unique selling point and why advisers can remain confident that their business is safe.
To illustrate his point Mr Barton said that since November 2016 when Aviva launched its service, around 27,000 pensioners that Aviva believed did not have an adviser, have sought advice from the company.
Of that number, only one was with an adviser.
“We only got it wrong in one out of 27,000. We are trying to be careful that if a customer has an adviser they use that adviser.
“If we know there is an active adviser – or there has been any contact from an intermediary or anything that lets us know the customer has an adviser – we leave the adviser and customer to work through their pension requirement."
However, there is a growing advice gap, that much is clear.
And according to Mr Barton, despite the debate around provider-owned adviser firms, Aviva can play a role in filling that gap, while ensuring that customers get the best adviser experience. The company’s mission includes providing advice to customers who would struggle to get advice because of their relatively small investment pot or because they do not know where to go.
He rejoined Aviva in October 2014, having previously been director of employee benefits and direct distribution at Scottish Widows.
Mr Barton said: “What we found after pension freedoms is that where customers suddenly had all these new choices, some customers had advisers they could go to.
“Some knew what they wanted and could self serve, but it was obvious a lot of people were expecting us to help them, so it was literally a response to that demand."
During conversations with customers Aviva advisers make it clear they could only offer the provider’s products.
But Mr Barton stressed that the way in which Aviva advisers go about interacting with customers means that clients are encouraged to explore the open market if they think they can find a better rate on a product.
Underpinning the plans to grow the national advice business is technology. As a result Mr Barton says customers will experience a digital end-to-end journey which is delivered by an adviser on a face-to-face basis.
Typically, the way the customer journey works is if a person rings up the contact centre to say they need advice, their details are captured online.
Following this, an Aviva adviser will call the customer to arrange a visit.
During the meeting the adviser sits with the customer and takes them through the application online.
Mr Barton said that customer demand will help decide how and where Aviva will grow its business.
When the advice business was launched last year the company was southern England and Midlands-focused. It is now looking at providing national coverage as well as expanding into other product areas.
Mr Barton said demand for the service is steadily increasing as more of its customers realise that Aviva offers an advice service.
At the end of May this year Aviva was receiving 50 to 60 advice requests per week. It is now receiving around 100 and expects that number to increase over the coming months.
Mr Barton said: “At the moment we have been focused on just retirement advice. From the end of this year and early next year we will be looking at advising people on their pension requirements throughout their life.”
Ima Jackson-Obot is a features writer of Financial Adviser
Career highlights
September 2016 – Client advice director at Aviva
October 2014 – Sponsor, advice and guidance role at Aviva
2008 – Director, employee benefits and direct distribution at Scottish Widows
2005 – Director of corporate benefits at Aviva
2004 – Managing consultant at Huntswood
1993 – Business development director and B2B roles at Prudential
