A week in Adviser Technology looking at systems old and new
Thanks for joining me for the second of my weekly round ups of the things people need to know in the adviser software market and the content we are making available to advisers via the advice tech hub on AdvisorSoftware.com.
Our regular content on AdviserSoftware.com looked at the propositions from a wide range of technology suppliers, some very well-known, others just beginning to make a name for themselves.
Adam Flowers kicked off our summaries this week with a look at five tools from one of the big guns in the product research area, Defaqto.
Adam explored their:
- Risk Profiling,
- Cash Flow,
- Portfolio Rebalancing,
- Switching Analysis and the
- Research System for which the company are so famous
Tuesday’s insight turned to another long-standing system, but one that has recently passed into new hands with an analysis of O&M Profiler ESP with tools for Cash Flow, Switching Analysis and their Research System, the company now being part of the Iress stable.
On Wednesday, we examined Ortec Finance’s Opal Cash Flow and Risk Profiling tools. Ortec may not be a well-known name in the UK but they have an exceptional reputation on the continent and their UK customers include both Fidelity and most recently St James Place where their engine is a core part of the new system the wealth management giant is rolling out to all its advisers. In addition to the summaries linked to above it’s worth reading a more detailed analysis which was published recently.
Another newcomer came under the spotlight on Thursday when our attention turned to Digital Wealth Systems (Digi) and their Practice Management System and Client Portal propositions. This is another company about whom we have written a more detailed piece recently. This can be found here.
We concluded the week by turning the spotlight on the extremely popular CashCalc, looking at their Client Portal and Cash Flow tools.
For those in the workplace pension and benefits market on Benefits Guru this week Jason Green’s first insight of the week investigated Which providers offer access to the Pension Advice Allowance? This is actually a fascinating piece, it’s apprising how many pension providers are failing to take advantage of the opportunity for consumers to fund their retirement advice from their pension. Some of those failing to do so are companies who vigorously claim to support the adviser community. Time to put their development budgets where their mouths are.
On Thursday Jason looked at Understanding website accessibility standards. Again, this piece highlights that many pension providers are not doing as much as they could do to meet accessibility standards. I’m genuinely surprised by this when I see so many public statements supporting diversity in every form. There are number of companies who could do better.
Over at Protection Guru it was a very busy week and if there is one article on Protection Guru that you are going to read this afternoon or over the weekend, can I urge you to look at Emma Iskowitz digest from the first part of our July Protection Forum? This explored How the new FCA duty will impact protection advisers. This was a great session with some fascinating insights from both Johnny Timpson, The Cabinet Office Disability and Access Champion for Insurance and Banking, together with Robert Sinclair of the Association of Mortgage Intermediaries. There are some really important messages here that will fundamentally change some of the ways in which protection, mortgage and wealth advisers need to work. This is essential reading or listening, because you can play the audio recording of the meeting from the link above as an alternative.
The big product news in Protection this week was LV= unveiling their new mortgage and rent cover and entering the exec IP market. Rob Harvey provided a great summary as the product was launched which really is worth reading. LV= have been very creative in designing this product but it is really important to understand its strengths and limitations. Rob’s summary at the link above should be invaluable for advisers.
In our normal Protection Guru content we began the week with Rob’s analysis on Increasing income protection without underwriting – how does The Exeter’s new Income First compare?
On Tuesday, Amanda Newman Smith analysed Age limits for life and critical illness cover – how insurers compare.
Wednesday’s insight from Rob took a deeper look at How do The Exeter’s new Income First non-medical underwriting limits compare? to help advisers understand the changes and how they compare with the rest of the market in more detail.
Rob finished the week with a roundup of Recent changes to insurer non-medical underwriting limits – and 6 things you should read which also looked at the lifting of Covid restrictions by some insurers and other general improvements.
Have a great weekend!
