TODAY’S BLOG
HOW PERSONAL IS PERSONAL BANKING?
We all know (I think) that the days of the traditional bank manager are long gone, these days banks dress their offering with “personal banking” (as though it has been anything else before!). This is meant to be the main reason for staying with your traditional bank (and most will have done so since their teens) as opposed to using a new bank – a disruptor.
It seems to me that there is a significant degree of lip service paid to the idea of personal banking. You may have the luxury of perhaps having the name and email address of your “relationship manager” but there are some inherent problems. Each new year brings the prospect of yet another letter explaining that my personal relationship manager has altered… again. The best of intentions is re-established. I would not like to guess at how many “clients” these relationship managers have responsibility for – but let us assume it is way too many to have time to form any that are meaningful.
A RELATIONSHIP YOU SAY?
Today I was emailed by my personal relationship manager about the latest (standardised) investment offering that they have. Apart from not being a good offer, but a very similar (yet still more expensive) cost to a proper advised investment, it was a bit of a pity that nobody had thought to ask what I did for a living. This is a bank that I have been with for 4 decades.
I will not bother naming the Bank – they are all much the same. You will recall that in the past most mis-selling scandals were directly to do with poorly trained and badly incentivised advisers within Banks. The gaping hole of adequate planning and saving for the future has been noted for many years. The regulator is hoping for the Banks to fill some of that with algorithms and rather good bits of IT plugging the rest. Financial planners generally deal with people that are already engaged with planning ahead or have recently started to do so – and there are not that many of us anyway – about 24,000 for a population of around 66m.
NOT ON THE HIGH STREET
I suspect that the Banks will continue to disappoint. Heck you cannot even rely on them to be on your local high street if you should ever need to “pop in”. Imagine how difficult this is for elderly people that have little appetite for the internet or online banking and are not able to easily get to their new nearest branch. Personal it most certainly is not, hopeful yes, but I also suspect the outcomes are also predictable.
WE CAN DO ALL THIS BETTER
If you are someone with a few hundred thousand in cash, then of course the Investment Banks are now interested in you, but you will quickly discover that to them personal means treating you to sports events and corporate hospitality in exchange for some over the top fees. We can arrange investments better; we can arrange cash savings accounts better. Personal is what we do because what we do is all about your plan.
Dominic Thomas
Solomons IFA
You can read more articles about Pensions, Wealth Management, Retirement, Investments, Financial Planning and Estate Planning on my blog which gets updated every week. If you would like to talk to me about your personal wealth planning and how we can make you stay wealthier for longer then please get in touch by calling 08000 736 273 or email info@solomonsifa.co.uk
GET IN TOUCH
Solomon’s Independent Financial Advisers
The Old Bakery, 2D Edna Road, Raynes Park, London, SW20 8BT
Email – info@solomonsifa.co.uk
Call – 020 8542 8084
GET IN TOUCH
Solomon’s Independent Financial Advisers
The Old Bakery, 2D Edna Road, Raynes Park, London, SW20 8BT
Email – info@solomonsifa.co.uk Call – 020 8542 8084