IFAs have criticised Britannic Assurance for muddying the waters between
tied and independent advisers by dubbing the upmarket end of its tied
salesforce as EFAs.
IFAs are concerned the public will confuse Britannic's new group of
executive financial advisers with fully independent ones because of the
similar acronyms.
The life office says it aims to recruit 270 EFAs by the end of the year in
a move to target the “upmarket end” of the home-service sector. Britannic
says its 2,500-strong salesforce remains the core of its distribution
strategy but customer demand for remote paying has prompted it to introduce
a new grade of salesperson.
The EFA branches will be set up in areas where the life office believes
customer density and behaviour warrant it.
Wentworth Rose IFA managing director Philip Rose says: “This really does
not help the issue of polarisation. IFAs and IFA Promotion have spent a lot
of time and money on making the public recognise IFA as meaning independent
advice and this EFA is too close to the edge.”
Britannic marketing manager David Newman says: “We will be looking to
recruit both internally and externally for our new band of EFAs. But we in
no way see this as competing with IFAs as it is targeted at our traditional
customer base.”
