Leveraged tops for customer satisfaction

The Investment Trends 2015 Margin Lending Investor Report revealed that Leveraged was the highest rated margin lender in the industry for the Overall Client Satisfaction and number one for Net Promoter Score*.

Head of Leveraged David Arnold credited the win to a focus on a commitment to continually improve the customer experience.

"The survey result is reflective of the great work we have done in the education and communication space, along with enhancements to our overall customer service capability," Mr Arnold said.

"The survey revealed quietly growing investor confidence with almost 80% of our customers intending to maintain or build on their gearing strategy.

"We will continue to add to the material we have already delivered for brokers, financial advisers and direct investors through organisations such as the ASX, Kaplan and trade press to improve awareness and understanding of gearing as a strategy," he said.

Leveraged Head of Distribution - Direct, Darryl Drown said there has been a shift in the type of customer who is gearing and how people are gearing their portfolios.

"We're seeing the rise of the unadvised or 'direct' investor and we're seeing younger people with smaller facilities taking up the strategy while others are 'buying the dips' or diversifying an existing portfolio using their margin loan," Mr Drown said.

"We're also seeing a rise in the number of younger investors with smaller credit limits, particularly in the east coast capitals. It may be that they realise the need to consider an investment strategy that has the potential to get higher returns than cash in the bank when building wealth to reach goals such as saving for a home deposit.

"The most recent Adelaide Bank/REIA Housing Affordability Report shows that in NSW, first home buyers would have had to borrow an additional $1100 for each week they waited to buy a property between September 2014 and September 2015. Home loan sizes increased by $60,000 over that period and as a consequence, the required deposit on a property increased as well.

"With the current low interest rate environment and market volatility presenting opportunities to acquire blue-chip stocks at reasonable prices, borrowing to invest in shares and managed funds is a strategy that is likely to be one that more financial advisers revisit or at least consider as part of a client's overall financial plan.

"Diversification is also a significant driving factor for some investors taking up margin loans. Many people will have significant exposure to 'Mum and Dad' stocks in their super funds and come to the realisation that they also have the same shares acquired as a result of various demutualisations in their share portfolio as well.

"In line with the Investment Trends findings, international share trading is also growing rapidly – with the US market a particular favourite at present among the Leveraged client base," he said.

*Results from the Investment Trends 2015 Margin Lending Investor Report, based on an online survey of 1,793 investors.