Digital advice tools vital for ageing population

Craig Keary, Ignition Advice APAC chief executive, said that as the population continues to age, the demand for advice grows and current trends lend themselves to greater digital adoption of financial advice.

“Demand for financial advice continues to grow as the population ages; however, how people wish to consume it is rapidly evolving. We have seen an acceleration in digital adoption across most industries and it makes sense that consumers should be able to access financial advice in a way that suits them,” he said.

“The combination of human and technology, as in today’s hybrid digital advice models, is becoming more understood. Strong evidence out of the UK, as well as our own UK client experience, shows that hybrid adoption leads to greater access and affordability of advice,” Mr Keary noted.

As such, he said, bringing technology to financial advice is directly related to growing the accessibility of financial advice.

“Technology removes the barriers of convenience, cost and confidence to make advice more accessible for all,” Mr Keary explained.

According to him, digital advice is perfectly suited to delivering single-issue personal advice for those with simpler or more episodic advice needs.

“It also clearly preserves the important value proposition of financial planners, who serve the more complex needs of consumers who have the need and budget for a holistic approach to managing their finances,” he noted.

Mr Keary added that technology plays a pivotal role in helping organisations scale advice solutions to their members or policyholders.

“We’re encouraged by the Quality of Advice Review and the significant reference to technology as an enabler for scale and how that can bridge the advice access and affordability gap,” Mr Keary said.

“Implementing digital advice solutions is no longer a multi-year, expensive and complex, high-risk program of work or enterprise-wide digital transformation. With the right provider, implementing digital advice can be faster, cheaper, and less disruptive than most digital projects.”

Mr Keary also said the federal government’s response to the final findings of the Quality of Advice Review could “reset the rules around personal financial advice”.