Liberty Life recognises the need for increased professional financial advice

The future of Liberty Life and the intermediary begins and ends at the heart of the value chain with the customer.

In the new fast-paced consumer-driven world, it is important to stay relevant to the customer by allowing them to determine whats relevant.

Technology has resulted in the customer being exposed to instant information and constant change. As a result, the Life assurance industry is driven by an evolving market, an increasingly savvy customer and a more demanding public.

"This is no longer an industry that tells the market what it needs and people are no longer intimidated by the products it offers," Bobby Malabie, Head of Sales and Distribution at Liberty Life explains. "However, within the world of information overload, that same information can be overwhelming without the filters of knowledge and experience."

Here, believes Liberty Life, lies the opportunity for the financial adviser to use knowledge and expertise to guide the customer in a way that will give them a seamless service experience they will want to repeat.

Liberty Life's competitive advantage will lie in their ability to successfully professionalise the intermediary sales process and elevate the role of the financial planner to the level it rightfully deserves.

"The potential exists for the role of the financial adviser to be greater and more relevant than what it is today," explains Malabie. "Our aim is for Liberty Life contracted advisers to be the best qualified financial planners in the market so that our customers are not just buying quality products, but obtaining quality advice that is relevant to them."

In the future, Liberty Life will continue to invest heavily in organising the business around the intermediary model. "We are committed to showing our intermediaries that they are more important now than ever before, all the while ensuring that the customer is at the heart of the value chain," says Malabie. 

Given the pace of global change, using the opportunities it presents and organising the company in a way that will enable it to take advantage of these opportunities is the task for the road ahead.

"The future is challenging, things will change and we may not do things as we always have, but the opportunities are immense," concludes Malabie. "There is no doubt that if we organise ourselves around the customer, and tangibly demonstrate our value to them, the role of the financial adviser will become the future career of choice."