SA's wealthy rate local financial sector's service and advice top

Wealthy private individuals rate service and advice as the most important value add from their financial advisers, according to the 2009 CapGemini Wealth Report.

The report goes on to say that amongst the wealthy there has been a significant drop in the levels of trust with respect to both industry advisors and the financial system’s regulatory bodies over the past year. But in South Africa, independent research recently carried out amongst high worth individuals indicates that some local companies are bucking this global trend.

In a survey recently conducted by SMRC Marketing Solutions (Pty) Ltd, BoE Private Clients was rated the top domestic bank in terms of the overall level of service and the quality of advice provided.*

The survey was conducted amongst a statistically valid sample of clients who bank both with BoE Private Clients and with one or more other domestic bank.

Vince Boulle, CEO of BoE Private Clients, which has over R80 billion in private assets under management and administration, says the high client satisfaction ratings achieved by the company is particularly pleasing given that not all the respondents regard BoE Private Clients as their ‘primary’ banking institution.

“It is interesting to note that South African wealth advisors seem not to have been tarred with the same brush as some of our global counterparts, who have clearly lost a great deal of the trust of their clients during the economic crisis of the past year,” he said.

Boulle noted that BoE Private Clients’ competitive set was extremely broad, by virtue of a wide range of services offered to high wealth individuals. These services include lending and day-to-day banking as well as stockbroking, investments and fiduciary services covering wills, tax and trusts.

“Effectively, this means that we compete not only with other private banks but also with accountants and attorneys. Against this background, the results achieved by BoE Private Clients in respect of service and advice are particularly encouraging.”

Global trends reported in the 2009 CapGemini Wealth Report found that 46% of high net wealth individuals had “lost trust in their primary advisor” and an equal percentage in their wealth management firm.

And their misgivings went even further. The report says that 78% were found to have lost trust in the financial system’s regulatory bodies, which were supposed to help guard against the type of staggering market and corporate losses that actually occurred during the year.

The SMRC Marketing Solutions (Pty) Ltd survey found that BoE Private Clients were clearly not as disillusioned. The survey also found a positive correlation between the category of client and the rating given to their Relationship Manager, with the most wealthy rating the advice they had received highest.