Advisers fear proposed changes from the Royal Commission, including a review of lender-to-broker commission and a ban on trail, will spill over to New Zealand banks. Anecdotally, advisers say mortgage advisory businesses have fallen in value.
Yet Moore, who advises on the sale and acquisitions of adviser businesses, says the true value of an adviser business is its breadth of product offering and long-term client base, rather than "transactional" commission based on short term products such as mortgages.
Moore says: “I used to sell trail books and they were reasonably valuable. But there was no set agreement, and the banks decided they weren’t going to pay them, and the market fell back.”
He adds: "Are the [Royal Commission] changes going to affect value? Not really. You need years of experience to have a book worth selling anyway. It will remain constant. No one ever bought a book just to get renewals. As a financial investment that would be silly. People buy a business for the opportunity to work with those clients, as marketing is one of the biggest expenses."
“The value in an adviser business is the relationships with clients. Having the right to talk to them, and with them having an incentive to listen.” Moore says.
Moore believes advisers can build value in their business through branching out to other product lines: “Mortgage advisers should think about becoming financial advisers. They work hard to win their clients, and marketing costs are the highest in the business. There is an opportunity to get quality advice on all aspects of their home, such as insurance, tax, maintenance. All of these can generate revenue. If I talk to my clients regularly, I’d have the opportunity to build a long-lasting relationship with those products, and build income.”
