iNED Peter Mann kicks off this month’s expo on Building Better Financial Services

A 40 min watch.

In the first instalment of our Building Better Financial Services Expo peter mann  , stalwart leader of the profession – more recently imparting his wisdom via a series of independent chair and non-executive directorships – joins us for a brief chat, kicking off some of the more pertinent topics affecting the sector.

Peter believes the pandemic has demonstrated how resilient the advisory sector is, with firms and clients generally gaining a better sense of wellbeing – financial and otherwise – with many learning and changing a lot about the ways in which they do business. The way advisers and platforms are interacting with clients and customers really underlines their roles as trusted partners.

He’ll be “watching with interest” any bold claims from new entrants and so-called disruptive models aiming to shake up the platform sector, with equal curiosity around the responses from the incumbent players.

“We hear a lot of noise of new white-labelled, bespoke entrants coming to market but whether people will see that interest through to fruition is yet to be seen. I think it will be a case of watch this space…”

Peter tells Sam why he “isn’t at all surprised” private equity firms are keen on splashing the cash on our sector and why consolidation works as an exit strategy for many well-run, good quality firms with high levels of recurring income, while also offering them scalability.

Believing it to be difficult for two small or medium-sized advice firms to come together effectively because – unlike consolidators – they lack a readymade common infrastructure, he added:

“Infrastructure is important, a set of guiding principles is important – so one set of governance directives, one set of compliance directives… all those things that make a good quality business.”

He is also ready to welcome a spell of greater product innovation in order for financial services to build back better: “I think we’ve lacked significant product or service innovation for the last five years. Some people have done some interesting things, but in the at- and post-retirement space, I think there’s a way to go.”