Technology adoption in advice accelerated by 5 years due to pandemic

During the latest episode of the ifa Show, Craig Keary, Asia-Pacific chief executive of digital advice provider Ignition, said the disruption happening in financial services and the advice sector due to the pandemic has accelerated by around five years.

Because of this, Mr Keary said the demand for financial advice and accessibility to quality advice has never been greater.

“So if I added all up, you’ve got a burning need for financial advice from consumers, you’ve got consumers that are very happy to engage in a hybrid or a digital way, and you’ve got all of us, including the institutions that provide these solutions a lot more comfortable with the use of technology,” he said.

In particular, Mr Keary said some of the people most impacted by the pandemic over the last two years have been people planning to retire and those who have had to put “life events” on hold.

“As a result of that, the need for advice has never been greater,” Mr Keary explained.

“I have a strong view that where you’ve got financial stress increasing, you’ve got mental health challenges increasing. The two are very related.

“What can actually solve that? It’s actually advice. It’s actually having the ability for somebody to sit down, engage in a way that’s in a cost-effective way around financial advice.”

Listen to the full podcast here.

Neil Griffiths

Neil is the Deputy Editor of the wealth titles, including ifa and InvestorDaily.

Neil is also the host of the ifa show podcast.