A major Auckland adviser has won the Best Financial Adviser award at the Indian Newslink Indian Business Awards this week.
Global Financial Services (GFS) has taken home two awards from the Indian Newslink Indian Business Awards 2015 (IBA) on Monday night, the first for Best Financial Adviser (Mortgage & Insurance) and the second for Best Medium Sized Business.
The Best Financial Adviser award was the first year the category was announced and GFS managing director Ajay Kumar told NZ Adviser winning the award had special significance to them because nominations were open to all Indian advisers New Zealand wide.
“In the eyes of the judges, we are the best financial adviser in the Indian market,” says Kumar.
“We feel the customer is our family and therefore we have a long-term relationship with every customer.”
The awards ceremony was held at the Sky City Convention Centre and among the 900 businesspersons, consultants and professionals in attendance were Steven Joyce (Minister for Economic Development), Auckland Mayor Len Brown, Andrew Little (Leader of the NZ Labour Party) and Anthony Healy (CEO and MD of BNZ).
Kumar said there were four main reasons for why they are able to consistently deliver award winning standards to their clients - motivation and support given by the customer, a dedicated team, staying at forefront of technological advances and their philosophy that they as advisers are dependent on the customer rather than the customer being dependent upon the adviser.
He told NZ Adviser that to be awarded as the best financial adviser in the Indian community was very timely considering the Review of the Financial Advisers Act.
“Becoming big is not that important - at the moment if you see what the FMA is doing, they don’t need big advisers, they need the best advisers who can take care of the customers,” says Kumar.
“The whole Review of the Financial Advisers Act is also based on how adviser services can be improved in the best interest of the customer and how the consumer interest is being protected.”
The entries were judged by an independent panel of judges, featuring business leaders such as Nevil Gibson (Editor-in-Chief, The National Business Review), Steve Corbett (Chief Executive, e-Centre Ltd, Massey University) and Mike Skilling (Management Consultant, Director SBS Bank).
“Thanks to the GFS team for working as if these families were their own. The GFS team works hard to get the best interest rates, cash backs but most importantly to customise the financial advice to a customer’s unique circumstances and requirements,” Kumar said upon accepting the award.
“I thank all our customers for giving us the opportunity… and for giving us 100+ reviews on Google and Facebook and another 400+ reviews on Radio.”
GFS previously won the Indian Business Awards in multiple categories in 2009, 2010, 2012 and 2014 – including Supreme Business of the Year, Excellence in Customer Service, Best Small Business, Marketing Excellence and Young Entrepreneur.
Kumar says next year they aim to be a contender for the Business Excellence in Information & Communication Technology category also, due to their unique CRM system.
“Very few adviser companies have their own technology,“ he told NZ Adviser, explaining GFS is fortunate to have its own technology and one that is particularly useful for financial advisers.
“We are able to modify the CRM system according to our needs as is necessary for us, so it is very quick and in-house we have testing facility also.”
GFS also received the Excellence in Customer Service award at Westpac Auckland Business Awards and ASB Bank’s Number One Broker for New Money Advanced Award for the year July 2014 to June 2015 earlier this year.
The IBA presentation ceremony began in 2008 and Prime Minister John Key has said, “The Indian business community in New Zealand are effective partners in building our relationship. I am pleased to note that the Indian Newslink Indian Business Awards are getting bigger and better every year.”
The Best Financial Adviser award was the first year the category was announced and GFS managing director Ajay Kumar told NZ Adviser winning the award had special significance to them because nominations were open to all Indian advisers New Zealand wide.
“In the eyes of the judges, we are the best financial adviser in the Indian market,” says Kumar.
“We feel the customer is our family and therefore we have a long-term relationship with every customer.”
The awards ceremony was held at the Sky City Convention Centre and among the 900 businesspersons, consultants and professionals in attendance were Steven Joyce (Minister for Economic Development), Auckland Mayor Len Brown, Andrew Little (Leader of the NZ Labour Party) and Anthony Healy (CEO and MD of BNZ).
Kumar said there were four main reasons for why they are able to consistently deliver award winning standards to their clients - motivation and support given by the customer, a dedicated team, staying at forefront of technological advances and their philosophy that they as advisers are dependent on the customer rather than the customer being dependent upon the adviser.
He told NZ Adviser that to be awarded as the best financial adviser in the Indian community was very timely considering the Review of the Financial Advisers Act.
“Becoming big is not that important - at the moment if you see what the FMA is doing, they don’t need big advisers, they need the best advisers who can take care of the customers,” says Kumar.
“The whole Review of the Financial Advisers Act is also based on how adviser services can be improved in the best interest of the customer and how the consumer interest is being protected.”
The entries were judged by an independent panel of judges, featuring business leaders such as Nevil Gibson (Editor-in-Chief, The National Business Review), Steve Corbett (Chief Executive, e-Centre Ltd, Massey University) and Mike Skilling (Management Consultant, Director SBS Bank).
“Thanks to the GFS team for working as if these families were their own. The GFS team works hard to get the best interest rates, cash backs but most importantly to customise the financial advice to a customer’s unique circumstances and requirements,” Kumar said upon accepting the award.
“I thank all our customers for giving us the opportunity… and for giving us 100+ reviews on Google and Facebook and another 400+ reviews on Radio.”
GFS previously won the Indian Business Awards in multiple categories in 2009, 2010, 2012 and 2014 – including Supreme Business of the Year, Excellence in Customer Service, Best Small Business, Marketing Excellence and Young Entrepreneur.
Kumar says next year they aim to be a contender for the Business Excellence in Information & Communication Technology category also, due to their unique CRM system.
“Very few adviser companies have their own technology,“ he told NZ Adviser, explaining GFS is fortunate to have its own technology and one that is particularly useful for financial advisers.
“We are able to modify the CRM system according to our needs as is necessary for us, so it is very quick and in-house we have testing facility also.”
GFS also received the Excellence in Customer Service award at Westpac Auckland Business Awards and ASB Bank’s Number One Broker for New Money Advanced Award for the year July 2014 to June 2015 earlier this year.
The IBA presentation ceremony began in 2008 and Prime Minister John Key has said, “The Indian business community in New Zealand are effective partners in building our relationship. I am pleased to note that the Indian Newslink Indian Business Awards are getting bigger and better every year.”
