In his opening address to the 15th annual Grosvenor Group conference last week Yeo outlined many of the changes which have taken place in the advisory world.

Some of these related to tax, the introduction of the PIE regime, technology and regulation. However the biggest change in the past 15 years was to the face of distribution.

In the past independent financial advisers looked to firms like AMP and AXA as being the enemy.

“They are not the enemy anymore. It is the banks.”

That has changed and it is now the banks.

He says AMP has even recognised that and bought AXA so it is big enough to take in the banks.

Yeo said currently around 80% of KiwiSaver money is sitting in bank owned schemes and banks also have a major share of the insurance market, particularly through ASB and ANZ’s operations.

Yeo says advice is a relationship business, but that is one area that the banks don’t understand.

In Star Wars terms banks are the Darth Vader’s, Yeo says.

“They’re sucking up everything,”

“Our job is to say how do we counter that and stay relevant?”

Yeo said that Grosvenor’s business is centered around helping and working with financial advisers. However all advisers and related firms need to work together to battle the banks.

There are lots of guerilla battles going on in the market place and some battle victories, however everyone needs to be united to win the battle.

“There are always people fight guerilla (campaigns),” he says. “But guerillas don’t win the war.”

“One of the most important things is to unite.”

He said there are many ways firms and advisers can work together including sharing resources and strategizing ideas.

He told advisers not to see each other as competitors: “You have to see each other as allies.”

Yeo also said banks control advisers through their cheque books, most notably with commission payments.

“Independent providers need to find a way of weaning themselves off that.”

Yeo admitted that advisers and firms like his need to work with banks in some areas, but when it comes to the advice space it is a different story.