The Affluent Consumer Market in Australia 2008

The Affluent Consumer Market in Australia 2008

Introduction

The affluent consumer market living in Australia provides an attractive market for financial institutions to target because of the wealth they hold. Datamonitor's Australia Financial Services Survey captures opinion from 422 affluent individuals.

Scope

*Details affluent consumer demographics including age, working status, state and city of residence within Australia.

*Analyses the opportunity for online financial product arrangement within the affluent market.

*Analyses how prepared affluent Australians are for retirement and the use of financial planners.

*Reviews affluent market trends across HISA, credit card and mortgage product areas.

Highlights

While some financial institutions may think that the online financial services market in Australia is in its infancy, results show that providers should be investing more to further develop their online platform in order to meet the growing demands from affluent consumers.

It appears that the affluent population are thinking more and planning accordingly for their retirement as compared to the rest of the consumer market. There are more affluent individuals than mass market individuals that plan to retire before age 55 or who are already retired.

A large proportion of the affluent mortgage market is expected to change providers over the next five years. Companies need to ensure they are marketing their lending services to this group of clients and that they are offering what the majority of borrowers are looking for such as a competitive interest rate.

Reasons to Purchase

*Review competitor market shares of affluent and mass market consumers across HISAs, credit cards and mortgage products.

*Discover the age, location work status and more about the affluent market living in Australia.

*Identify which product areas will develop a strong online presence in the future.

Overview 1
Catalyst 1
Summary 1
Methodology 2
Executive Summary 3
The majority of affluent people are 45 or older, retired or work in a highly-skilled job and are mostly male 3
Most affluent consumers in Australia are either retired or work in high-skilled occupations 3
Men are strongly represented in the Australian affluent market sample 3
The online financial services market has further room for development 3
Online product arrangement is a burgeoning market for affluent consumers in Australia 3
However, providers can do more to serve the online needs of affluent consumers 4
As expected, affluent individuals are typically better prepared for their retirement 5
The affluent consumer sample are in greater control of their retirement planning 5
The affluent population are more likely to turn to financial planners for their investments 5
The majority of the affluent market is happy with their current HISA provider 5
ING Direct has the largest HISA market share of affluent individuals in Australia 5
Affluent consumer typically have multiple credits that they pay off in full each month 6
Affluent consumers are more prone to having multiple credit cards although most of these respondents pay their full monthly balance off 6
Many affluent consumers are thinking about switching mortgage providers over the next five years 7
Affluent respondents are more likely to switch their mortgage provider over the short term as compared with the mass market 7
Table of Contents 8
Table of figures 9
Table of tables 10
Affluent consumer demographics 11
The majority of affluent people are 45 or older, retired or work in a highly-skilled job and are male 11
Two-thirds of affluent respondents Australians are aged above 45 11
Most affluent consumers surveyed in Australia are either retired or work in high-skilled occupations 12
Men are strongly represented in the Australian affluent market sample 13
The majority of the affluent sample are located in the eastern cities of Australia 13
Surveyed affluent Australians typically are well educated individuals 15
Online product trends 16
The online financial services market has further room for development 16
Online product arrangement is a burgeoning market for affluent consumers in Australia 16
However, providers can do more to serve the online needs of affluent consumers 18
Affluent consumers are more likely to have the means of conducting business online however security concerns and a lack of trust are the main factors inhibiting online usage 20
Investment planning trends 22
As expected, the affluent market is better prepared for their retirement 22
A quarter of the affluent population plan on retiring on or before they turn 60 22
The surveyed affluent consumers is in greater control of its retirement planning 23
Affluent individuals are seeing their savings track well on the way to retirement 24
Affluent individuals will also look at avenues outside of superannuation to fund their retirement 25
The affluent sample surveyed is more likely to turn to financial planners than the mass market sample 27
Service was the most important factor when deciding on a financial planner for affluent respondents, fees was ranked sixth 28
The least important factors when selecting a financial planner included advertising and various media endorsements 29
Affluent consumers want more proactive advice on products and better reporting relative to the mass market 31
The majority of affluent respondents are happy with their current financial planning arrangement 32
Consumer satisfaction and switching trends 34
The majority of affluent market is happy with their current HISA provider and are unlikely to switch providers 34
ING Direct has the largest HISA market share of affluent respondents 34
The majority of affluent respondents do not expect to change their HISA provider over the next year 35
The majority of affluent consumers who switched HISA providers over the last 12 months left CBA 36
Most affluent clients who switched HISA providers pursued a better interest rate on their account 37
Affluent consumer typically have multiple credits that they pay off in full each month 39
Affluent consumers are more prone to having multiple credit cards although most of these respondents pay their full month balance off 39
The majority of affluent individuals have Visa branded credit cards 40
CBA has the largest credit card market share of affluent individuals in Australia 41
Affluent consumers are happy with their main credit card, holding the same card for many years 42
Affluent clients are more concerned about rewards than fees or interest rates relative to the mass market 44
Many affluent respondents are thinking about switching mortgage providers over the next five years 46
Australia's big four banks are the leading mortgage providers to the affluent market 46
Affluent respondents are more likely to switch their mortgage provider over the short term as compared with the mass market 47
The interest rate was the most important factor for affluent individuals when picking a lender 48
APPENDIX 51
Data 51
Methodology 66
Further reading 66
Ask the analyst 66
Datamonitor consulting 66
Disclaimer 67
List of Tables
Table 1: Age bands of the affluent market 51
Table 2: Gender of the affluent market 51
Table 3: Location in Australia of affluent market, by state and city 52
Table 4: Minimum educational qualification achieved by the affluent market 52
Table 5: Occupational type held by the affluent market 53
Table 6: Actual arrangement methods for the affluent market by various product 53
Table 7: Preferred arrangement methods for the affluent market by various product 53
Table 8: Reasons why the affluent market have not considered arranging a product online 54
Table 9: Planned retirement age for both the affluent market and mass market 54
Table 10: Attitudes towards retirement planning by affluent market and mass market 55
Table 11: Product methods for funding retirement of the affluent market and mass market 55
Table 12: Type of financial planner used by the affluent market and mass market 56
Table 13: Most common reasons for choosing a financial planner by affluent market and mass market 56
Table 14: Least common reasons for choosing a financial planner by affluent market and mass market 57
Table 15: Service areas for improvement for financial planners by affluent market and mass market 57
Table 16: Proportion of the affluent market looking to get a new financial planning in the next 12 months 58
Table 17: Market share of affluent and mass HISA markets by provider 58
Table 18: Have you switched your main high interest savings account in the last 12 months? 59
Table 19: Who was your previous high interest savings account with? 59
Table 20: Reason for switching HISA providers by the affluent and mass markets 60
Table 21: Number of credit cards held the affluent and mass markets 60
Table 22: How much of the outstanding balance do you manage to pay off each month? 60
Table 23: Credit card brands held by the affluent and mass markets 61
Table 24: Market share of the affluent and mass credit card markets 61
Table 25: Length of time affluent and mass market individuals have held their main credit card 62
Table 26: How satisfied are you with your main credit card? 62
Table 27: Appealing factors to the affluent and mass markets when considering getting a new credit card 63
Table 28: Market share of affluent and mass mortgage markets held with providers 64
Table 29: Length of time the affluent and mass markets expect to keep their mortgage with their current provider 65
Table 30: Reasons why affluent and mass markets picked their current mortgage providers 65
List of Figures
Figure 1: A considerable proportion of affluent consumers are using the internet to arrange financial products 4
Figure 2: ING Direct is the leading provider of HISA products to affluent people in Australia 6
Figure 3: The majority of affluent respondents are aged 45 and over 11
Figure 4: The majority of affluent people surveyed are retired or work in highly skilled jobs 12
Figure 5: The majority of the affluent population living in Australia are male 13
Figure 6: The proportion of affluent respondents living in NSW, VIC, QLD and WA is higher than the share of the total sample population living in those states 14
Figure 7: The majority of affluent people in Australia have a formal education 15
Figure 8: A considerable proportion of affluent consumers are using the internet to arrange financial products 17
Figure 9: There are substantial opportunities for providers to further develop their online platforms 19
Figure 10: Security issues are the main deterrent stopping affluent consumers from arranging more products online 21
Figure 11: Over a third of the affluent population sample in Australia are already retired 22
Figure 12: Affluent individuals appear to be in greater control of their retirement 24
Figure 13: The majority of the affluent population is happy with how they are tracking for retirement 25
Figure 14: Affluent individuals are more likely to use an income stream, HISA or investment property to fund their retirement 26
Figure 15: Affluent individuals are more likely to use a financial planner than the mass market 28
Figure 16: Service reputation and professional advice are the top ranking reasons why affluent individuals chose their financial planner 29
Figure 17: Advertisements and endorsements are the least likely factors considered when affluent individuals are choosing a financial planner 30
Figure 18: Affluent consumers want more regular updates and face-to-face contact with their planner 32
Figure 19: Around four out five affluent respondents are happy with their current financial planning arrangement 33
Figure 20: ING Direct is the leading provider of HISA products to affluent people in Australia 35
Figure 21: The majority of affluent consumers do not intend on switching their HISA provider in the next year 36
Figure 22: CBA had the most HISA affluent consumers switch on them over the last 12 months 37
Figure 23: Getting a better interest rate was the leading reason why affluent people changed HISA providers 38
Figure 24: Affluent consumers are more likely to have more than one credit card compared to the mass market 39
Figure 25: Affluent individuals are much more likely to pay off their credit card balance in full each month 40
Figure 26: Visa is the leading brand of credit card held by affluent individuals in Australia 41
Figure 27: CBA is the leading financial provider of credit cards to the affluent market 42
Figure 28: The majority of affluent clients are happy with their main credit card 43
Figure 29: Affluent respondents have held their credit cards for relatively longer periods of time as compared to mass market 44
Figure 30: Lower fees are most important to affluent consumers when considering a new credit card 45
Figure 31: The big four banks in Australia are the leading mortgage providers to affluent people 47
Figure 32: Affluent respondents are more likely to switch their mortgage provider over the short term 48
Figure 33: The interest rate was the most important factor for affluent individuals when picking a lender 49