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Following the success of the inaugural Social Media in Financial Services conference in January 2010, I’m delighted to confirm that I will be making a return appearance at Social Media in Financial Services 2. This much-anticipated event, organised by Phil Calvert of IFALife,  is being held on Thursday November 4th 2010 at Beaumont House, Old Windsor, Berkshire.

Related posts:

1. Social Media in Financial Services
2. The art & science of Financial Planning
3. Mike Linskey’s in demand!

As we say goodbye to The Noughties, and welcome The Teenies (?), it’s time for the Fincision website to get a fresh lick of digital paint. So, say goodbye to our old Wordpress theme, The Station, and welcome Delegate, which has just been released by the outrageously talented design team at Woo Themes. Enjoy!

Related posts:

1. Fincision website relaunches
2. Fincision on the road
3. Axa WRAP breaks cover

If you’re serious about using social media to get closer to your customers, January 2010 sees one of the most exciting and eagerly anticipated eMarketing conferences in years – one that’s specifically focused on helping financial services marketers to network, share best practice and debate key issues on how to use social networking technology to get closer to customers.

IFA Life, the award-winning social networking website for financial advice professionals, is presenting “Social Media in Financial Services” at the Guoman Tower Hotel, Tower Bridge, London on Wednesday 13th and Thursday 14th January 2010.

On Wednesday, Fincision’s Mike Linskey will give a presentation entitled “How the internet will drive the future of financial advice”, covering topics such as:

• The “perfect storm” that is the credit crunch, and how it is opening up the internet as a channel for financial advice
• How will financial advice work online?
• Where are the “early adopters” heading, and why?
• Strategic opportunities for distributors and manufacturers
• The stepping stones to a golden age for financial services

A limited number of tickets are still available here

Related posts:

1. Social Media in Financial Services 2
2. “The Future of Financial Advice” : download now
3. The art & science of Financial Planning

Fincision’s founder and Managing Director Mike Linskey has been invited to speak at American Express’ in-house conference on “Innovation & Growth out of a Recession” which takes place this Friday (27th November) in London. He will present a financial services view of “Bright ideas that worked and why” to 100 or so delegates from the consumer marketing, insurance, risk & finance teams. Also appearing are speakers from Google, The Future Laboratory, Fresh Networks, Maybourne Hotel Group (owners of Claridges), and Ogilvy.

Mike has also agreed to present at several high-profile events in 2010; watch this space for more details!

Related posts:

1. Return match for Dealers Group
2. Social Media in Financial Services 2
3. The art & science of Financial Planning

This article was originally written for The Findings, published by Owen James Events as part of their Meeting of Minds programme.

It could be the synopsis for Mission Impossible IV: your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to flog financial products & services in the midst of the worst recession on record, and after some of the biggest names in the industry have cost each family in the country over £4,000, in estimated additional tax liabilities, to bail them out.

You will operate in an environment scarred by the abject failure & subsequent abandonment of the regulator’s principles-based regime, the continued uncertainty surrounding the Retail Distribution Review and its EU equivalent, the ongoing consolidation amongst manufacturers & distributors, and the emerging threat of an additional layer of product-based regulation.

That sounds like a bridge too far, even for the likes of Ethan Hunt & Co.

At the heart of this epic challenge is the issue of trust, or more accurately, the lack of it. The great British public simply does not know who it can trust to look after its money any more.

For many people, that trust in traditional financial institutions has been gradually eroding for the past three decades, starting with the demise of The Man from the Pru and continuing through the endowment mortgage and pensions mis-selling scandals to the present-day bank charges, mortgage fraud and PPI headline-grabbers.

Indeed, the day that The Pru, Royal Liver etc. stopped knocking doors is a very significant one. From that point, traditional financial services product providers and distributors lost the capability to nurture a personal relationship with the mass market. Instead, they gradually shifted their attentions to focus on the more lucrative high net worth individuals. It should come as no surprise that the “Savings Gap” first cracked open around this time.

Today, as the recession hits that mass market the hardest, the industry finds itself being accused of being morally bankrupt as it continues to hunt the whales at the expense of the people who need suitable products & advice the most.

And therein lies the greatest opportunity this sector is likely to encounter for several decades. We really are in the midst of a perfect storm for anyone considering a move into mass market retail financial services distribution.

Arguably, the mass market has perhaps never been more conscious on a daily basis of personal and national finances since the end of WWII. This, coupled with technological advancements which are revolutionising the way we communicate, means that more and more ordinary people are going online to research, discuss and recommend financial products and services to each other, and then purchase across a variety of distribution channels. Remarkably, since the onset of the Credit Crunch, ordinary people have started to save again.

They are not limiting their attention to the traditional scope of financial services. A new medium of ‘micro-finance’ is emerging, which focuses on budgeting and cost control in areas such gas & electricity, mobile phones & broadband, travel & shopping .

Almost three quarters of a million people visited Martin Lewis’ moneysavingexpert.com website in just ONE DAY last week, viewing over three million web pages. They were looking for discount codes, restaurant vouchers, coach & train deals, free wills guides, and the top savings accounts.

It isn’t just information that is being sought; these people want advice and validation of the decisions they are making, prior to purchase. This is the very heart of the opportunity – the mass market is looking for a new source of trusted advice to fill the vacuum left by those now trawling for whales.

Retailers that are considering offering financial services, have multi-channel distribution capability, five-star customer service reputation, trusted brand, integrated social media strategy, and transparent product pricing – your time has come…

Related posts:

1. Social Media in Financial Services

Flicking through Financial Adviser (FT Business) after it dropped through the letterbox this morning, I came across this article from Distribution Technology’s Actuarial Director, Danny Quant.

Having initially marvelled at his parents foresight, my eye was caught by the bold proclamation that “It will be reassuring for investors to know that the model used by their adviser has held up in the toughest markets for a generation”. Really?

Danny’s argument is that, because 9 out of 10 model portfolios in his three and a half year example performed better than the 1st percentile prediction, the “outcomes have been in line with expectations”.

I have two problems with this. First, I recall another eminent actuarial fellow telling me that stochastically modelled outcomes below the 5th percentile tended to be so erratic as to be untrustable, and therefore not to be given much legitimacy. Maybe that’s the reason general guidance on presentation of stochastically modelled outcomes suggests that output should show the extremes at the 5th & 95th percentile.

Second, Distribution Technology’s own Financial Plan output from a report I ran in September 2006 is in line with the guidance mentioned above, i.e. showing the 5th, 95th and 50th percentile only. As a result, any investor in possession of such a report probably won’t be able to share Danny’s confidence as they won’t have seen the 1st percentile predictions!

Instead, they’ll be comparing actual performance versus Danny’s 5th percentile, and half of the portfolios have performed below that mark. Indeed,  portfolio 4 (which unfortunately is probably one of the more widely used – sitting in that “Balanced” range between portfolios 3 and 7) is just below the 1st percentile!

So, no, I don’t agree with you Danny, that “actual performance has been show to have occurred within the range of expected outcomes”, and I doubt many investors or indeed advisers will take that much comfort from this piece of nonsense!

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Finovate 2009 is over, but you can still view the archive version of our live blog below:

Related posts:

1. Live from Finovate Startup 2009
2. Looking back at Finovate Start-up 09
3. Fincision on the road

The Dealers Group conferences in London & Manchester were great fun, but just a warm-up in comparison to the two big trips that are rapidly approaching…

Next Monday afternoon, I fly out to New York for Finovate 2009, a one-day showcase featuring the best new financial and banking technology innovations from established leading companies and hot young startups.

This year, 32 companies will each have just seven minutes to live demo their latest and greatest; it’s intense, but that’s the way I like it! This is what the Wall Street Journal had to say about Finovate:

“For online personal finance nerds… …Finovate is the Super Bowl and World’s Fair rolled into one.”

Does that make me an “online personal finance nerd”? Technology permitting, I’ll be live blogging the event via the Fincision website from about 1:30pm UK time on Tuesday, twittering in the breaks (@mikelinskey), and furiously networking afterwards. So I guess the answer to the question is yes…

Following Finovate, a much shorter trip up the road to Newport’s Celtic Manor Resort beckons, for the IFP’s Annual Conference starting Monday 5th October. I’m really looking forward to catching up with old & new friends, watching some great keynotes, and having some very interesting discussions about advice distribution platforms, I’m sure!

If you’re around at either event and see me, drop by and say “Hi!”

Related posts:

1. Finovate 2009 – live blog
2. Fincision website relaunches
3. Home & away in October

Mike Linskey’s new presentation on “The Future of Financial Advice”, first given at the Dealer’s Group Conferences “Platforms & Practice Technology” (September 2009), is now available for download:

The Future of Financial Advice (7.16 MB)

Many thanks to Jim Bruene and Eric Mattson for allowing use of the Finovate videos, and especially to Bryan Link of Simplifi for the exclusive interview.

Related posts:

1. Conference Exclusives for Dealers Group
2. Social Media in Financial Services 2
3. Social Media in Financial Services