Canada Life has created an online learning programme to help financial advisers understand behavioural bias in financial advice.
The life company designed the new course – HumanSense – in partnership with behavioural psychology firm We are IB.
It consists of six modules covering a range of topics such as understanding client behaviour, creating emotional resonance and visualising your future self.
The objective of the training is to enable advisers to have “deeper conversations” with their clients, to help build trust and emotional empathy.
The programme is free and will provide advisers with six hours of CPD-qualified training. Each assessment can be completed at a time of the adviser’s choosing.
With the introduction of Consumer Duty, there has been a greater focus and need for advisers to actively consider and take account of their behavioural biases to ultimately achieve better customer outcomes.
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Canada Life head of marketing, brand and communications Keily Vanstone said the business wanted to “offer support” in this understanding and provide “actionable insights” for advisers to use in the financial advice sales process.
“Together with We are IB, we have created a free e-learning programme, based on a deep understanding of client behaviours,” she added.
“Our hope is that, alongside our existing technical support, HumanSense will offer insights for advisers to further develop their relationships with clients, and help them to keep in step with Consumer Duty.”
We are IB chief executive Simon Moore said there are “cognitive” barriers in the advice space, which are prohibiting advisers from having more human conversations with their clients.
“Traditionally, facts, figures, and jargon may be used in initial conversations as a means to try win a client’s trust,” he said.
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“We also know from cognitive neuroscience that humans all make decisions primarily around how they ‘perceive they feel about facts and figures’ not on the actual logical interpretation of those facts and numbers.
“This, together with the learnings we’ve gained by looking at the behaviour of clients, shows that there is an opportunity for advisers to upskill in a non-technical space.
“Through our partnership with Canada Life, and speaking to advisers directly, we considered the most valuable tools that would be needed for them to understand the needs of their clients better.
“The HumanSense training will never replace the technical knowledge required for financial advisers – but it is our hope that it may complement what exists and engage both the rational and emotional decision-making system of clients.”
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