Some 80 per cent of advisers would recommend the British ISA if it were to be introduced, according to a recent survey.
The Schroders UK financial advice pulse survey found that sentiment for the Conservative’s policy, which was unveiled at the Budget this year, was positive.
Speaking at the press briefing for the survey today (June 13), Gillian Hepburn, commercial director for Benchmark, said this figure stood out to her.
“Some of the comments when the initiative was first announced were a bit flat but actually this figure is extremely positive. A lot of the sceptical comments about the British Isa was more around the physical implementation of it.
"But when you take a step back advisers feel positive about it and will find a way around the practical implications of it,” she added.
James Rainbow, head of UK at Schroders, believed that something like the British Isa which encourages saving and participating in the British capital markets is a “good thing”.
AI
The survey also found that although there is an increased sentiment among advisers that AI represents an opportunity to their business, some are still not fully on board.
When asked how soon they anticipate incorporating AI-based technology into their advice processes, 15 per cent said they would never implement it.
Despite this figure, 85 per cent of advisers do anticipate incorporating AI-based technology into their processes.
Rainbow said: “It’s pretty obvious that there is a growing societal need for advice and there are too few advisers. If we can inject some more operational leverage to allow advisers to scale their businesses more effectively through better use of technology, which in turn allows them to help more clients, that’s a positive development.”
He also pointed out there needed to be an industry-led effort to get more advisers into the profession because of the growing demand for advice and that AI had a role to play in helping target more people with advice.
“We are still at a very early stage of the development of this technology but in terms of the advice guidance boundary, we have to solve the issue of if we can’t get somebody in front of an adviser.
"If we don’t have the capacity then the reality is we need to provide some basic form of guidance within a regulatory framework that allows people to make informed decisions about their future without taking full advice.
“If as an industry we believe we are not going to be able to meet that growing need then I would say AI is a secondary jump into that.”
Rainbow emphasised that AI did not change fundamental human behaviour which is that when people seek out advice at key moments they want to speak to another human being.
“Technology does an enormous amount of good to power conversations that advisers have with their clients but I don’t see it being a replacement for human interaction.”
