Supermarkets not advisers are greatest threat

The survey was conducted among some of the largest leading financial services providers in the marketplace, including high street banks and building societies, specialist investment providers and insurers. Senior individuals in the organisations were asked to rank different sectors in terms of threat in the next decade, to which supermarkets came out on top.

The results were as follows, ranked in order of threat to financial services providers in the next decade:

1 Supermarkets

2 Bank assurers

3 Consumer / affinity brands

4 Aggregator websites

5 Intermediary companies

Opal warned that supermarkets have been able to enter and achieve significant market growth for several reasons:

1 Consumer confidence in their brands

2 Diverse product range spanning many financial sectors

3 The ability to source products from a broad range of providers – without any perceived fears of conflict of interest which often inhibit some financial companies.

4 Almost fully outsourced operations meaning costs are kept to the minimum