Banks hit as Britons turn to internet for advice - 21.01.2008
Financial Times
According to the article, banks have suffered a dramatic drop in demand for financial advice as Britons increasingly manage their money using the internet. Results of a survey of 2,000 Britons conducted by ComPeer state that demand for advisory services has fallen across the board, with more than half of the survey participants saying they have no financial adviser. This proportion is up one third on 2003. Alison Malton, managing director of ComPeer is quoted throughout the article as saying "the internet has enabled millions of people to find out and compare financial offers from their own workplace, in their own time and with no adviser". She also mentions that "the quite remarkable shift away from relying on the high street banks for advice was likely to be partly because of the sector's commoditisation of products and service".