Now in their 27th year, the Financial Adviser Service Awards still stand for the same thing they did when they were launched in 1991: a means to showcase and highlight the best providers when it comes to customer service.
Back in 1991, if an adviser wanted to flag a provider’s lacklustre performance they either had to rely on a strongly-worded letter, or spend several hours on hold on a telephone line, before waiting for an apology – and hopefully some action – in response.
Fast forward to today’s highly competitive financial services industry – when a complaint can be swiftly tweeted and re-tweeted before remaining on the internet forever - good customer service is no longer good enough.
In 2017, with instant messaging and social media transforming the way we communicate, providers now must go out of their way to engage with advisers and their clients, in the variety of ways that people are now used to and expect.
Clearly those providers that have picked up a prestigious five-star award in this year’s Service Awards, by impressing the thousands of intermediaries who voted for them, have gone that extra step and this magazine shares what they have done in the last 12 months to gain your approval.
I hope you enjoy reading about what providers have done to impress you in the last 12 months plus how they intend to continue to excel at customer service.
Also enjoy spotting the leading lights of the financial services industry celebrating scooping a Service Award at our glittering award ceremony, which was held at the Natural History Museum in London last month.
Emma Ann Hughes is the editor of Financial Adviser and FTAdviser
emma.hughes@ft.com
