Advisers loyal to platforms despite declining satisfaction

In what represents further confirmation that the days of big institutional dominance of the platform market are well and truly over, Netwealth and HUB24 have again emerged on top of the adviser satisfaction tables generated by Investment Trends.

Netwealth scored 80% satisfaction, followed by HUB24 with 78% following by BT Panorama with 75% and then CFS FirstChoice and Macquarie Wrap with 73% each.

The Investment Trends Adviser Technology Needs Report revealed Industry wide, the proportion of advisers who rated their overall satisfaction with their main platform as ‘very good’ has fallen from 30% to 28% in the last year.

It noted that overall satisfaction had seen a declining trend since the highs observed in 2014 (40%).

Commenting on the research, Investment Trends senior analyst, Bailey Hao said the challenging business conditions brought by the pandemic had undoubtedly put pressure on platforms to maintain high service levels to advisers and their clients.

Industry wide overall satisfaction had fallen, but across 25 individual service areas measured, advisers remained highly satisfied with their main platforms’ online transaction capabilities (49% rate it as ‘very good’), ease of use (44%) and level of fees (42%).

“While platforms serve advisers well in many areas, there is still significant room for improvement. Our satisfaction gap analysis highlights that adviser-facing support services should be a focus area – especially the call centre,” Hao said.

“Since advisers most prefer to turn to their platform’s call centre for their support needs, platforms must devote more attention to improving their contact centre experience given its integral role in lifting overall satisfaction ratings.”

Each year, Investment Trends assigns Awards for Excellence to commend platforms that stood out. Netwealth emerged as the highest-rated platform for overall satisfaction by its users. It is also the highest-rated for ‘value for money’, while BT Panorama leads in user satisfaction for ‘mobile access/app’.