Sources with knowledge of the matter, speaking to ifa under condition of anonymity, have confirmed that over the next 12 months the bank will move away from its traditional advice delivery model to adopt a goals- or objectives-based approach under its “Future Advice Model” plans.
The rollout will follow the development of the CommBank Café initiative currently being piloted, ifa understands.
Late last year, the CBA launched the CommBank Café campaign to encourage customers to visit CBA advisers in a cafe setting where they could discuss broad-based general financial matters with the option of proceeding further into the advice process if they wanted to.
While a CBA spokesperson was unable to confirm or deny any plans currently underway, Rick di Cristoforo, the bank’s general manager of advice strategy and projects, spoke to ifa about the CommBank Café initiative more broadly.
“One of the takeaways from the CommBank Café was the comfort customers felt in the café environment to talk about their goals and what is important to them, which reinforces the value of objective-based advice in attracting more Australians to seek financial advice,” he said.
“We are constantly improving and developing our conversations with our customers, so we can get to the heart of what makes them comfortable and what they need, because the more comfortable they are, the more likely they are to take action to help themselves.”
In a LinkedIn post discussing the launch of a CommBank Café session in 2016, seen by ifa, one bank employee said, “It was a pleasure to support our partners at Wealth to help achieve over 150 quality goals- and needs-based conversions on the day. Looking forward to seeing the project evolve and take off around Australia.”
Meanwhile, CBA general manager, wealth management, Hugh Humphrey also took to social media to praise the project.
“We took financial advice to the people yesterday,” Mr Humphrey said.
The comments come as ifa has revealed AMP has plans to take its goals-modelling technology to its wider dealer group network and possibly the IFA market.
The institutions have been criticised in the past for creating hype around the concept of goals-based advice when smaller advice firms have been relying on this approach to drive business for years.
Clarification: This article has been amended to remove any inference that CommBank Cafe is an “objectives-based advice initiative”. Rather, a spokesperson for CBA has clarified that CommBank Cafe is a “marketing initiative to engage with customers”.
MBA-qualified managers need a slogan to simplify and promote what they (appear to) do (just like politicians), hence the latest institutional slogan is “goals based advice”. Must resonate with the customer surveys (opinion polls) and branding experts. Also an opportunity to draw a line between the old institutional advice (bad) from the new institutional advice (goals based). I’ve been in the industry for 12+ years and as far as I know advice has always been about the client’s goals. Nothing new here, but a catchy
differentiating slogan it is.
No doubt the customer will end up with a comprehensive suite of CommInsure and Colonial branded products to help them meet their goals, so back to square one we go!
If everybody here would try being better instead of bitter, we’d be a lot better off.
Says the CBA planner
try saying that 3 times with a Kiwi accent. bitter better. Sorry, but everytime my appointment book is empty, or I say No to a client because my fees are too high, or I drown in red tape, I actually blame the CBA…and Labor…and Union super funds. Some would say I have a lot to be bitter about and for good reason, and some don’t want to go through FoFA Mark 2. So again I say they’re just trying to flog even more product and it’s going to end up hurting us all. They’ve got the ex head of product at Colonial running the project so go figure.
Better than their previous “Stole Based Advice” model they were running previously I suppose.
hillarious
Good to see the institutions finally admit they’ve had financial planning wrong. The sooner these vertically aligned institutions dismantle the better. In the future, technology will be the enabler of integrated services, not corporate ownership. Consumers will buy each piece from whoever they choose and those firms smart enough to understand their place in the system will integrate with the others and focus on delivering value to their customers.
“Goals based advice” is about as useful as the “we care” statement companies use.
It will in time prove to be pointless and fashionable, an irrelevant focus in investment planning. Yes clients goals need to be listened to, considered, planned for & factored into the mix but certainly not the be all of advice.
I’d disagree Steve as I think that depends on your service offering and every adviser is different, myself I’m not out there promoting that my MDA service or buying selling shares is my secret sauce but you’ve hit the nail on the head nicely. If everyone said “we care” it quickly ruins it for the firms that actually “do” care. What is for sure is that the CBA/AMP offering goals based advice, they’ll do it poorly and it will quickly ruin it for those advisers that want to focus more on goals as opposed to investments, in the end it will be nothing more than a “”we care”” statement.
I’ve read the CBA training manual …it goes as follows.. Adviser ask client about goals, e.g. “”So Mr Client tell me about your goals””…[i]Note-Adviser use this time to check your emails and or take a quick nap, remember you have another appointment in 15 minutes and 9000 clients..then .After the client stops talking offer then XYZ product as the solution..[/i]
Hilarious! but true
As an adviser of 18 years I must be brain dead or just plain stupid, as I seriously don’t get what this post or others similar are on about. As has been said by others, if they haven’t been basing the advice on a clients’ goals in the past, what the hell have they been basing it on??? But me thinks I know the answer..so sad.
The Banks and Institutions Goals have and always will be to Flog as much product as possible.
Regardless of it being dressed up now as a client goal, it will still be all about Flogging as much in house product as possible !!
Same Bank product Flog, different bank window dressing.
A bit like getting health and fitness tips from McDonalds , me thinks…Commbank Cafe Session..another example of classic sales 101. I needed to meet my Heart Surgeon in a McCafe as well..not…i actually had conviction in his qualifications, his minimum experience, the trainingof Doctors and faith that his behaviour would be regulated, so i happily followed his processes and we did business on his terms. Commbank has a long way to go (as does the entire industry) if they need to build trust and get people to open up by meeting in a Coffee shop in a shopping center.
A free cup of coffee and a mass produced muffin to serve as an incentive to discuss your financial goals?
Is the cup of coffee free and provided by CBA?..is it therefore an inducement ?
Is the coffee only free if the customer is there to complete an initial information questionnaire?
The coffee drinking customer would have to sign an FSG the minute they sat down with an adviser in the “cafe setting”, so immediately from that point, the initial advice process has commenced.
Is the initial offer only caterer’s blend then moving to first origin,high altitude, fresh roasted Arabic after they sign an authority to proceed ?
So what has the basis for advice been previously? The goal of the adviser rather than the client? So sad that institutions can get away with this.
Oh wow, look at all the instos flock to actually providing financial planning, admitting they have only been flogging product in the past….
“bet on goals based advice”… give us a spell.