The peer-to-peer lender’s head of business development Andrew Jones says financial advisers associated with the smaller, independent dealer groups are generally more interested in learning about new products and are “far less locked down by institutional platforms”.
Mr Jones said approaching larger dealer groups and institutions as a newer entrant to the financial services market can be a frustrating process.
“They are very much constrained by a very centralised model of research. They’re very restricted and they’re only looking at products that have been around for X number of years that have had a very long track record,” he said.
While he said there is a need to be conservative when dealing with people’s retirement savings, which is part of the logic behind these approved product lists, it also severely limits the ability of newcomers to access those platforms.
“What the independents have, which the larger institutionally owned dealer groups don’t seem to have, is sort of a willingness to learn about things which are new,” Mr Jones said.
“It does take a bit of work and effort to understand [a new] asset class and understand what’s being offered, and I think the independents take that risk because they want to provide an edge and they want to go back to their customers with something new.”
