Although there are no categories in the Dealers’ Report Card survey that ask financial advisors to rate the strength of their senior management directly, that strength was a theme that many advisors kept returning to. They stressed the vital importance of strong leadership in the context of having a sound strategic focus, stability and corporate culture at their firms.
Advisors were particularly pleased when key people at their firm make an effort to develop and maintain personal relationships with advisors. These interactions – often face-to-face – build trust and help to keep advisors informed about what’s happening at their firms and in the industry as a whole.
This theme was especially prevalent at some of the smaller, independent firms, such as Windsor, Ont.-based Sterling Mutuals Inc. Advisors at that firm praised their CEO, Nelson Cheng, for engendering a sense of trust.
“Nelson is solid,” says a Sterling Mutuals advisor in Ontario. “As for his leadership style, he’s a straight shooter. He tells it like it is, and he’s easy to talk to. He’s a regular guy with a good grasp of the industry.”
A colleague in the same province added that he can contact Cheng and get any information he needs “on a personal level, through a round of golf or with a phone call.”
For his part, Cheng says: “Treating everybody fairly and honestly” is something that’s baked into the corporate culture at Sterling Mutuals.
But it’s not only senior management at the smaller, independent dealers that are proficient at developing and maintaining strong communications with their advisors. In fact, there are executives at some full-service firms that also are pulling this off, despite the size of their advisor fleets.
For example, Chris Reynolds, president and CEO of Mississauga, Ont.-based Investment Planning Counsel Inc. (IPC), which has more than 700 advisors, says he spends half his time communicating with advisors. Reynolds makes such communication a priority, along with planning a long-term strategy for the firm and managing day-to-day operations.
IPC’s ratings rose by half a point or more in “firm’s corporate culture” and “firm’s effectiveness in keeping advisors informed” categories this year. The firm also maintained consistently high scores in “firm’s stability” (9.3) and “firm’s strategic focus (8.3).
IPC advisors repeatedly mentioned their satisfaction with leadership. An advisor in Atlantic Canada says: “I got an email on Friday from Chris Reynolds, the CEO. Me, personally. He was just checking in. He asked what we needed and offered support. How many CEOs do that?”
Reynolds says he uses these opportunities to discuss “regulatory changes [as well as] the value of advice and the benefits that are going to consumers [from that advice. If there’s anything I talk to advisors about on a regular basis, it’s strategy.”
Meanwhile, a lack of clear, decisive leadership can cause a firm to stall or, as in the case of a few firms in this year’s Report Card, move in the wrong direction. For example, some advisors with Richmond Hill, Ont.-based independent firm Global Maxfin Investments Inc., said the Ontario Securities Commission’s permanent suspension of the firm’s founder, Sam Bouji, as the ultimate designated person of affiliated companies Global RESP Corp. and Global Growth Assets Inc. damaged Global Maxfin’s reputation and, as a result, their respective practices.
“Management is dragging us all through the gutter,” says a Global Maxfin advisor in Western Canada. “The appearance of integrity is crucial, and they don’t have it. So, the people they attract are questionable. It’s a downward spiral and it becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy.”
Investment Executive contacted Global Maxfin president Bruce Day to ask him how the firm plans to address these concerns. Day declined to comment.
Meanwhile, at Oakville, Ont.-based Manulife Securities, some advisors, especially those who operate on the firm’s securities platform, mentioned a feeling of aimlessness and a concern that the leadership isn’t listening to their concerns.
Specifically, advisors said, the firm’s leaders are failing to provide information on the “big picture” for Manulife, as well as on the company’s strategic focus – especially for the brokerage side of the operation. Says a Manulife advisor in Ontario: “It seems like there is a lack of leadership. And on the securities side, no one really knows what’s going on.”
As a result, Manulife advisors rated their firm’s strategic focus, “firm’s effectiveness in keeping advisors informed,” and “firm’s receptiveness to feedback” lower by half a point or more compared with 2014.
“I’d love to be able to call up all 1,300 advisors and share messages with them on a regular basis, but unfortunately that’s not going to happen,” says Shawna Dennis, director, marketing and communications, advisory services, with Manulife. “[As] in any industry, there is just so much information, but we do try to make our emails as streamlined as possible.”
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