More than one in four (28%) said they are ‘concerned’ or ‘very concerned’ about the ability of financial services companies to manage and store the information they receive.
The research also revealed that almost a third claim that they avoid recommending certain financial services companies to clients because of this.
Sam Ferguson, CEO at EDM Group, said: “Our findings are alarming. Competition in the financial services sector is increasing and their customers are becoming more demanding in terms of the services and products they want.
“In meeting this challenge financial services companies have to cope with a huge increase in the volume of information they receive and how they receive it.
“Banks, asset managers and insurers need to become much more efficient in how they manage their information but our survey suggests that in trying many will fail and increasingly break regulatory guidelines.”
The research also revealed that IFAs believe the ability of financial services companies to manage their information is going to deteriorate.
Just over half expected to see an increase in the number of financial services companies they avoid because of their poor information management systems.
In terms of which financial services sectors are the worst at managing and storing their information, 49.1% of IFAs named the banking sector. This was followed by the mortgage industry (18.3%) and general insurance (14.2%).
