At the event, entitled ‘Future Of The Industry: What Does Success Look Like?”, over 600 adviser firms were given an exclusive insight into how they can take full advantage of the benefits technology offers to secure a profitable future and enhance overall valuation.
Conference Progress Report
- Record new e-business applications – over 27,250 (September 2008)
- e-Commissions
- 145 adviser firms now live
- e-Valuations
- 700 valuations in 1 hour, used to take 1 week
- 19 Providers now live
- Merchant Investors just launched
- e-Bulk Services
- 3 new providers shortly going live
- e-Tracking
- In pilot with 3 product providers
- R&D Projects:
- Blackberry & mobile-based quotes & services
- Microsoft Surface – new technology
- Silverlight technology
David Child, managing director of 1st – The Exchange, opened the conference:
“We are currently undergoing a period of unprecedented market volatility and economic downturn, causing much anxiety and concern for the future. However, we believe that because of this and the increased need to focus on holisitic strategic planning, high quality professional financial advice is actually needed now more than at any other time”
“To deliver this, IFAs have to enhance their professional image, meet the needs of their clients and offer value added services which help preserve as well as manage wealth - and in some cases mitigate and reduce debts, possibly through equity or other asset-release based schemes. The winners from this turbulent period will be those that embrace change and gear their businesses to meet the needs of this future generation. Firms will need to ensure they take all opportunities to both consolidate and rationalise their operations - but the key to maximum efficiency will be using technology and e-services as part of a slick, robust and compliant business process.”
Speakers at the event included:
- David Child, managing director of 1st – The Exchange
- Nick Cann, chief executive of the Institute of Financial Planning
- Paul Hogarth, chief executive of Paradigm
- Robert Gruppetta, Financial Services Authority (FSA)
- Chris Smallwood, chief executive officer of national IFA, 2plan
- Peter Jones, chief executive officer of UKWealth Management
- Kim North, founder director of Technology & Technical
The 1st – The Exchange annual User Conference 2008 took place at the Ricoh Arena in Coventry. The event included over 23 exhibitor companies/sponsors with BNP Paribas and Jaguar as main sponsors. |
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