First it was rock ‘n’ roll, fast cars and fast food. Now it’s mutual funds, 401(k)s and estate planning.

As the boomer generation stampedes toward their golden years, KeyBank of Cleveland is stepping forward with a new team of financial planners specifically trained to provide investment advice to people planning for retirement. Last month, Key began the process of hiring and training 175 retirement planning counselors at branch offices stretching from Albany, N.Y., to Seattle.

As of last week, 43 retirement counselors had been hired and were meeting with customers at 16 branch locations across the country. In addition to writing retirement plans, the counselors will offer advice on investments, estate planning, taxes, retirement accounts and insurance policies.

69.5 million targets

The new hires are part of Key’s plan to position itself as a leading provider of financial planning advice to baby boomers – the estimated 69.5 million Americans born between 1946 and 1964. Key hopes this team of counselors will attract $12 billion to $15 billion in new assets to manage within five years, bank officials say.

“Take a look at the numbers. Ten thousand baby boomers are retiring every day,” says David Bowen, senior vice president and director of the mature market segment at KeyBank. “We’re not going to stand by and let a demographic shift of this magnitude pass us by.”

Still, Key faces the formidable task of convincing customers that a bank can provide objective retirement advice without pushing whatever it’s selling that week.

Key isn’t the first bank to target the boomer generation but Key executives believe it is the first national bank to hire, train and market a special category of employees dedicated to providing investment advice to people planning for retirement.

Each of the 175 new hires will take a six-month course, offered by the College for Financial Planning in Denver, to become certified retirement planning counselors.

The idea is the brainchild of Mr. Bowen, who took over last January as head of Key’s mature market segment after serving as the bank’s vice president of retail delivery management. At 35, Mr. Bowen barely qualifies as a boomer, but he considers himself an expert on the generation after nearly a year of customer surveys, demographic research and analysis.

What Mr. Bowen discovered may not be that surprising.

“We found that people were frustrated in dealing with brokers or insurance agents that clearly wanted to sell certain products,” Mr. Bowen says. “Instead of providing unbiased advice, (customers) were left asking, ‘What’s in it for him?’ ”

told to be objective

Mr. Bowen says Key’s retirement counselors are given strict orders not to push the bank’s proprietary insurance, mutual funds, asset management and brokerage services to customers seeking retirement advice.

“We believe a financial planner has a fiduciary and ethical duty to provide the best possible alternatives available, and not push this stock or this fund,” Mr. Bowen says.

But as the ranks of independent financial planners continue to swell, some question why individuals would use a bank for retirement advice.

“If the issue here is objectivity, then an independent, certified financial planner will be under less pressure to push products than someone who works for a bank,” says Bill Stasuk, co-owner of Retirement Plan Administration Inc., a small retirement benefits firm based in Cleveland.

“You mean to tell me that Key’s financial planners aren’t pushing Key products and services?” Mr. Stasuk says. “Then what’s the point?”

Robert Jones, president of KeyBank’s retail banking division, acknowledged that its retirement counselors will need to “build credibility” with customers.

“One of our greatest challenges will be to convince our customers that we’re not out to sell Key products,” Mr. Jones says. “We believe the difference is the promise that comes with the Key brand – that people who have dealt with us before know we’re going to provide objective service.”

Others questioned the whole strategy of designating certain financial planners as “retirement” experts who serve a special age category.

“Anything you do – whether you buy a car or invest in a 401(k) – that’s a retirement planning choice,” says Dan Shingler, director of media relations at National City Bank. “We don’t view retirement planning as separate from financial planning.”

Crain News Service