Financial advisers have said that self-select websites and direct investment platforms are the biggest threats to their businesses.
Professionals were quizzed about their biggest fears for a poll carried out at the recent Intelliflo Change the Game conference.

The conference, held in London on 4 June, was attended by over 200 financial advisers from across the UK.

They were asked what or who they regarded as posing the biggest threat to their businesses.

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Self-select websites attracted by far the most votes - 65% of the 138 advisers who voted.

Direct investment platforms was the second most voted for option with 43%.

Nick Eatock, Intelliflo’s founder and executive chairman, said: “The poll we carried out at the conference showed some interesting results.

“Clearly there is concern about the growth of self-select websites and platforms going direct to end customers but I hope the delegates took some comfort from the conference in knowing there are clear digital strategies they can employ that will give them the tools to compete against these threats.”

Third in the list of biggest fears was the general image of independent financial advice, which got 29% of the vote.

Advisers were also asked about platform trail commission. The response from 120 of the financial adviser delegates showed 26% still have 20% or more of their annual business turnover coming from platform trail commission, with one in eight of them having more than 30% of their turnover reliant on this soon-to-go revenue stream.

Delegates were quizzed as well on whether they had noticed any change in their clients’ long-term appetite for risk since 2008.

The majority (44% of the 123 advisers who voted) said their clients were more cautious initially but confidence has returned although one in five (22%) said their clients remained more risk adverse. Around a third (34%) said they had generally remained the same.

Mr Eatock said: “It was surprising to see that a significant number of the delegates still rely on platform trail commission and with the clock ticking on this it’s essential those firms act quickly to ensure they are not financially disadvantaged once that revenue is switched off.”

The conference featured keynote presentations from Microsoft’s chief envisioning officer and David Coplin.

A panel debate was hosted by Gavin Hewitt, the broadcaster and journalist.