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ING offers a package of qualified advice

Bernard Wan

Investors are becoming more sophisticated with better access to investment tools, and professional financial advisers have to match this with a high level of service and a greater understanding of investment expectations.

'There are a lot more financial advisers graduating now and starting to work in the financial advisory service industry. These are the people who will use our service,' said Kathryn Dioth, chief executive of ING Platform Services, diamond sponsor of this year's SCMP/IFPHK Financial Planner Awards.

ING Platform Services works with a client base of 36 financial advisory practices in Hong Kong and draws on its experience in finance planning in Australia and the United States to introduce the I-WRAP service to Hong Kong's growing financial adviser community.

Matthew Williams, head of sales and marketing of ING Platform Services, said: 'We are going to see a group of qualified financial advisers who should be able to articulate what their value proposition is. With people being able to buy and sell products on the internet, a financial adviser who simply has a proposition just wanting to tell customers to transact is not good enough, and that is not going to last. We have shifted from a transaction focus to an advice focus.'

Financial advisers in Australia and the US have the same professional status as accountants, doctors and lawyers. Ms Dioth said: 'Before a customer in the west makes a drastic life change they usually consult their lawyer, accountant and financial adviser. A drastic life change for a customer in Hong Kong may be something like [a person] moving to another country, or suddenly deciding to send children to school in the US, or [a person] has just had twins. You really need to make sure your finances are in order and the financial adviser is an important part of that picture.'

I-WRAP is totally different from being an online real-time platform for trading stocks, mutual funds and other investment vehicles. It is a technology that bundles several essential financial planning tools to help financial planners and investment advisers manage their clients' mutual investment portfolios, carry out financial analysis and generate consolidated reports, and switch fund combinations, among many other functions, on one multilingual and multicurrency platform.

The main thinking behind the I-WRAP account is to help financial advisers grow their business and enjoy long-term benefits with their clients while trying to maximise a predictable income for their own practice within the constraints of limited time and increasing administration costs.

The company has a team of business development managers who spend a lot of time with each financial adviser helping them use the financial planning tools available in the I-WRAP, explaining the flexibility of the products and services and helping financial practices develop marketing strategies to grow business.

'We have put a lot of effort individually and within our team in helping to build adviser practices,' Ms Dioth said.

With the Hong Kong business growing year on year, Ms Dioth sees a lot of potential in expanding the company's services to other markets such as Singapore and India, where people are becoming more affluent and opportunities are abundant for its wealth management business.

'ING is very active around the region and we are the second largest insurance company and fund management company in the region. We see people in India and Taiwan starting to move up the affluence curve and these wealth management activities are starting to build up in the region,' Ms Dioth said.

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