 |
 |
| |
Welcome
Welcome to the inaugural edition of The Researcher, our free new service dedicated to product providers. Don't hit the delete button; were not trying to sell you anything! The team at Synaptic has always prided itself on its sound working relationships with providers but we felt it was about time that we adopted an additional forum of communication—so we're starting 2009 with this new initiative.
We want to tell you about our research plans, keep you updated with the latest relevant news, and make sure you're aware of marketing opportunities, as well as seek your feedback on a host of topics on a regular basis.
We hope you find this useful.
In this edition...
- The effects of the credit crunch
Synaptic is inviting all product providers to contribute to an industry-wide survey for us all to better understand the impact of the credit crunch on the UK financial services marketplace.
The idea is to give all parties an equal opportunity to suggest questions for the survey. This could be a good chance to collect some peer group data not available from other sources. The theme is intended to be around the effects of the credit crunch, but we would also welcome questions relating to RDR and any other subjects that you wish to be addressed.
Once the survey has been finalised and all providers have submitted their responses, the full results will be aggregated and sent to all participants completely free of charge. All participants will remain anonymous, both in terms of suggesting questions and supplying answers.
Please email your suggested questions or topics to research@synaptic.co.uk before 6th February 2009. We hope to issue the survey to all providers later in February, via The Researcher.
Back to the top
- Synaptic data development plans for 2009
For the avoidance of doubt, this area is distinct from Synaptic software development plans, which focus on the functional tools and services offered by Capita Financial Software.
The data development plans listed just below are based on feedback that we have received from providers and IFAs alike on new and additional research topics that have been requested in recent months for inclusion within Synaptic Research tools.
The research topics might take the form of an enhancement to one of the many pre-existing product areas (such as a new set of product features/conditions/ranking) or perhaps a totally brand new category. Alternatively it might require the streamlining of product research categories; for example, by merging existing product basis together for unified comparison purposes.
With any of the above approaches, we value your input. We have always strived to ensure all major data changes are delivered in conjunction with input from the relevant product providers affected. We hope that this new communication initiative, The Researcher, will act as your open invitation to send your ideas through to the analysts on the team by emailing research@synaptic.co.uk.
Of course, some changes to product representation will always be mandated and timed to keep Synaptic research tools relevant in accordance with industry driven requirements. We anticipate this is likely to be ever more the case with the changes to the adviser landscape, due to be implemented as a result of the Retail Distribution Review (RDR) Feedback Statement. We will cover the RDR implementation proposals and the impact to Synaptic research tools within a subsequent edition of The Researcher further into 2009.
Ideas in the pipeline for 2009 include (but are not necessarily limited to) the following. The relevant analyst has also been listed alongside the topic (where known to date). Please note that the following may be subject to change.
| Topic |
Notes |
Lead analyst(s) |
| Group SIPP |
We’ve had a reasonable amount of requests to warrant giving this topic further consideration and this is likely to be one of the first areas that you will be hearing from the team on this year. |
Mark Davis |
| Business protection |
Business protection products can already be identified using a feature filter within term assurance, critical illness and income protection modules but does this area warrant a dedicated research category? |
Sean Casey |
| Ranking assumptions (nil commission basis) |
Our ranking data assumes commission is paid to the adviser. Post the RDR feedback statement, we are intending to change all values to a nil commission basis to ensure our software remains relevant for fee based advisers. This will affect most areas of product representation and will require full commitment from all providers to ensure all relevant new values can be supplied to us. |
Anne O'Brien
Sean Casey
Mark Davis |
| Locum cover |
This was suggested to us by a relatively large network. Is this an area for volume business? Do you want your locum cover (products specifically for medical practitioners and the like) to be available for research on our software? |
Sean Casey |
| Life settlement trusts |
These products may be able to sit within the existing structured products area but due to their specialised nature should they be a separate category? Is the UK IFA market place ready for these products? |
Sean Casey |
| Merging of product basis |
Based on the success of merging the four product basis for personal pensions last year, we will be investigating applying this to other product areas starting with unit linked, unitised and conventional with profits bonds. This would reduce the amount of time you would need to spend on data verification on what is essentially the same product represented in several basis. |
Sean Casey |
| Group S32 |
We've had some demand from providers on this. It would help to know your requirements so we can better assess the demand for representation. |
Mark Davis |
| Merging stakeholder & personal pensions |
We have formally separated these categories when we applied changes for A-Day. On occasion we receive requests from IFAs to suggest these product types should be available for research in one unified area. |
Mark Davis |
| Pension ranking on single premium of £25,000 or above |
There are some providers with a minimum single contribution which is greater than our current ranking values (based on £10,000). Are there more appropriate single contributions that should be used for these example values? |
Mark Davis |
If the topic will affect you as a provider, you will be likely to hear from the analysts involved for your input at the time of investigation. However, please feel free to send through your input on these topics (or any others) for the team to consider at any time, using the research e-mail address mentioned above.
We will of course consider all requests and condense this with feedback from other sources, including our IFA user base, when assessing the viability of a topic. In particular, we do give careful consideration when representing any specialist or unique features or products that do not lend themselves easily to a research comparison tool – however, the more demand we get, the higher priority it becomes for our team to investigate.
We look forward to hearing from you.
Back to the top
- A word from Anita...
Anita White, Provider Business Development Manager: "For those of you who do not know me*, I joined Capita Financial Software in 2007 as Provider Business Development Manager for Synaptic. My main role is to service existing Synaptic provider customers; building further on our strong provider relationships and identifying opportunities where we can add value to support your business, either through provision of software licenses, training or the opportunity to market your advertising to our entire userbase of around 25,000 customers.
"I am currently, heavily involved in the promotion of our recently launched MI tool, Synaptic Insight. This provides a wealth of valuable data which provides 'insight' into how IFAs actually conduct research for their clients when using our Synaptic Research tool. This is a unique proposition which is now available and an essential requirement for your product design teams. Please contact me if you are interested in seeing a live demonstration or to discuss how this can help generate business for you."
Contact email: anita.white@capita.co.uk
Mobile number: 07826 875982
* I have been in the financial services industry for over 25 years, and held various roles. Before joining Capita Financial Software, I was part of the founding management team of IN Partnership Network, where my role was Business Development Director, which I held for seven years. Prior to this I also spent time with Mortgage Intelligence as Head of Insurance and held senior research positions with Stewart Wrightson.
Back to the top
- Send this to a colleague
This service is supplied exclusively to product providers. If you would like us to add any colleagues to this distribution list, please click here and complete the form provided.
Back to the top
|
 |
| |
Capita Financial Software
Eaton House, 1 Eaton Road
Coventry CV1 2FJ
Tel: +44 (0) 2476 632884
Fax: +44 (0) 2476 839701
Email: research@synaptic.co.uk
Web: www.synaptic.co.uk
© 2008 Capita Financial Software. All rights reserved.
Capita Financial Software, Eaton House, 1 Eaton Road, Coventry, CV1 2FJ.
Registered in England number 3136234.
Registered office: The Registry, 34 Beckenham Road, Beckenham, BR3 4TU. Part of the Capita Group Plc.
|
|
|
|
