In a recent survey with Scottish based advisers, Intelliflo found that just over half (54%) believe that a yes vote would have a negative effect on their business but a third (34%) believe it wouldn’t affect their business at all. Just over one in 10 (12%) believe it would be positive.
When asked how they would vote, three quarters (76%) said they would vote no to independence, with 13% saying yes and one in 10 (10%) saying they don’t yet know.
Intelliflo’s concerns come from work it has carried out producing a Scottish Independence guide for advisers, which highlights how much of an impact a yes vote for Independence might have on their businesses, both North and South of the border.
Nick Eatock, CEO Intelliflo says:
“Advisers who think a positive vote for Scottish Independence will leave them with business pretty much as normal could be in for a massive shock post 18 September if the vote is ‘yes’. Financial arrangements will be a hot topic for everyone who has savings, investments, pensions and mortgages and advisers will be in the front line of dealing with this.”
Intelliflo’s survey found that coping with the administration of changes that may need to be made to existing clients financial arrangements was the top concern (57%) for Scottish based advisers if the vote is in favour of independence. This was closely followed by understanding the impact changes will have on existing clients’ financial arrangements (53%).
A quarter of those surveyed (24%) have major concerns about balancing the amount of work that would be required while still running a profitable business and the same number (24%) worry about handling the compliance issues around selling new business.
One in 5 (21%) have concerns about handling compliance issues around existing policies and investments if the vote is yes and almost the same number (18%) believe dealing with the quantity of client reviews that will be required will be a problem.
If independence was voted through, three quarters (74%) would like to see the British pound as the currency, with almost one in five (18%) preferring a new Scottish currency and just under one in 10 (9%) choosing an alternative option, including the Euro.
Nick Eatock continues:
“Although it would be at least 18 months before any major changes came into play following a yes vote, clients will be looking to advisers to provide them with scenarios that might impact their financial arrangements from day one of the vote being positive.
“It’s clear that preparation and planning ahead of September are extremely important if advisers are to manage clients’ expectations. At Intelliflo we’re already looking at what systems we could put in place to help our customers deal with issues such as compliance for example.
“For advisers, not being prepared could present two major risks to business: one is reputational and the other is having a situation where unplanned and unpaid for time is spent reacting to clients in a panic about what to do. Both could prove to be very costly to business in the short to medium term.”
