According to the Association of Mortgage Intermediaries’ (AMI’s) latest Protection Viewpoint, this was attributed to the Financial Conduct Authority’s (FCA’s) upcoming Pure Protection Market Study and Discussion Paper on the Future of the Mortgage Market.
This was followed by 30% who are worried about the economic conditions, while approximately 27% fear technology and artificial intelligence’s (AI’s) impact on the advice sector in the future and 26% are concerned about rising business costs.
Other key concerns include nearly a quarter of advisers worrying about an ageing adviser population, the growth of aggregator and direct consumer platforms, and a lack of skilled advisers.
A further 11% are worried about changing consumer attitudes and 9% pointed to the housing market.
Third of advisers worried about finfluencers but social media underutilised
The AMI found that a key concern for advisers was social media, with 29% worried about finfluencers and unregulated advisers.
The AMI said the concerns around finfluencers and unregulated advisers make it “crucial for advisers to maintain a strong social media presence to ensure consumers hear key messages from qualified professionals.”
Matt Brown, proposition director at HLPartnership, said: “Finfluencers are becoming a bigger risk as time goes on. I’ve heard examples from brokers of clients arriving at meetings with so-called ‘advice’ they have seen on TikTok or Instagram, and this takes time to unpick.
“Influencers are not regulated, and they are giving opinion usually rather than advice. However, the younger generation sometimes trust these individuals. Flipping this around, though – more people talking about financial advice and money topics can help the adviser stand out for giving the right advice and using platforms to educate clients themselves with their own social media presence to help build trust and visibility.”
The report showed that 51% of advisers don’t use social media, which the AMI said showed it is being “underutilised”.
Around 85% of advisers don’t have any social media presence, while only 11% create protection-related content on social media and 7% write online guides and articles on protection.
“Developing a social media plan is essential, as different platforms serve different goals – some generate leads, while others build consumer awareness. It’s also important to dispel myths: you don’t need to perform a TikTok dance to achieve success,” it noted.
The AMI issued several calls to action, which included advisers developing tailored social media plans, recognising which plans drive engagement, build awareness and generate leads.
Another call to action was to identify which elements of finfluencers’ style appeals to consumers and which parts could be adopted – while ensuring advisers’ expertise “remains at the forefront of online content”.
