Macquarie Life has topped an annual financial planner satisfaction survey by financial services research consultancy Investment Trends.
Asteron followed and AIA Australia ranked third, according to 729 financial advisers surveyed for the 2011 Planner Risk Report.
Seventy-seven per cent of planners rated their risk providers good or very good, down slightly from 81 per cent a year earlier, the report said.
Meanwhile, 34 per cent said they had dropped at least one provider over the past year to September.
Investment Trends senior analyst Recep Peker said the figure was relatively stable from the previous year. However, it was stable at a high level.
“On the platform side, we see attrition rates of about 24 per cent, so this is about 50 per cent higher than that. It’s a very high level of attrition,” Peker said.
“When you ask them why they favour an insurer, it comes down to the reputation of the provider, then it’s the level of support they receive, for example from the [business development manager], and then it comes down to policy features, such as product definitions.
“So, financial strength is really important, it’s really important that they’re getting good support, and then it’s really important that they’re getting the best features and policy definitions for their clients.”
About a quarter of all planners said they were open to switching in the future, with 23 per cent intending to look for new or additional providers over the year to September 2012.
Peker said the results showed risk insurance providers who failed to keep planners satisfied had a lot to lose.
“Relative to their market share, insurance providers with lower overall satisfaction ratings from their users lose a higher proportion of advisers to other providers,” he said.
