Login
ISCOVER
By: Staff Reporter
Almost one third of brokers believe no-one ‘owns’ the client.
To continue reading the rest of this article, please log in.
Looking for more benefits? Become a Premium Member.
Create free account to get unlimited news articles and more!
Looking for more benefits? Become a Premium Member.
While 58.4 per cent of the brokers surveyed in The Adviser’s latest weekly straw poll felt as though they owned the client, a surprising 30.4 per cent felt neither bank nor broker could lay claim to a customer.
Of the 481 respondents, just 11.2 per cent thought the lender owned the client.
Connective Principal Mark Haron told The Adviser that nobody owned the client, except for the client themselves.
According to Mr Haron, both the broker and lender have obligations to the client to provide them with the best possible financial solution – and these obligations did not entitle them to ‘own’ the client.
“For brokers, the relationship with the client is one of service – finding the best product to suit their client’s needs and forging a long-term connection.”
“However, for lenders, the relationship with the client is about providing the best product,” he said.
Mr Haron said sometimes the lines of a broker’s relationship with a client can be blurred, and it’s difficult to know who ‘owns’ them, but “brokers who strive to retain a solid client bond through providing excellent service will always own that aspect of the relationship”.
Broker Peter Wotherspoon said he was part of the 30 per cent of the industry that felt the client owned the client.
“Both the bank and broker play an important part in a client’s financial welfare, however, it is the client that ultimately makes the decisions,” he told The Adviser.
But it seems not everyone thinks clients own themselves.
Niche lending broker Moshe Moses argued that the client can be owned by a broker, but it depends on the level and quality of service the broker provides.
Mr Moses told The Adviser that brokers who build a strong relationship with clients from the outset will retain them for many years.
