This is one of the key trends that financial software innovator Decimal says highlights the immediate challenges for financial advice technology in the highly fluid, post-FOFA environment. 

“We have brought to market online tools that enable the delivery of quality, compliant advice on a large scale without increasing costs,” said Decimal Managing Director Mr Jan Kolbusz. 

“The tools are also fast. Yet, we worry about placing too much emphasis – as is a simplistic view in certain quarters – that faster SOAs are better. We know that advisers in fact find that faster is not always better, if it also means more labour, effort and input cost to ensure a proper compliance standard is met.  

“The last thing the financial advice industry needs is compromised advice outcomes on the basis that we have singularly pursued speedy SOA delivery,” Mr Kolbusz warned. 

Back-office administration expert, Mr Patrick Walford, at Marketshare Solutions, says advisers require a clearer picture of the full spectrum of advice delivery – from fact find to implementation. 

“With a system such as Decimal, an adviser can see in real-time the exact nature of the advice and the detail around the advice in the instant that the SOA has been created. Any advisory compliance and administration questions can all be dealt with, within 30 minutes of the SOA being issued. 

“This is far more efficient as it also removes the old ‘back and forth interactions’ syndrome which previously took many days to resolve,” Mr Walford said.
 
Mr Kolbusz said financial advisers are also reporting fresh challenges in an environment where pressure is mounting for more client interaction and engagement. 

“But on the other hand, the need to deliver quality advice that is 100 per cent compliant without increasing costs. Both can be achieved,” he said. 

“A robust compliance system, where at every stage of the financial advice process, compliance officers can view every interaction with the consumer in real-time, can help to reduce compliance risks and maximise the potential to deliver quality financial advice to consumers,” says Mr Jan Kolbusz.

“Be it from engagement, fact finding through to SOA production and fulfillment, compliance officers can examine the appropriateness of the advice in real-time.  With a traceable history, advisers are always audit ready.”

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“The superannuation industry has worked hard for many years and has made huge strides towards better engaging members with their super. In fact, the industry has been focused on the ‘engagement conundrum’ for so long, we think it is appropriate to pause and ask the question: ‘When does the engagement finish and the real marriage begin?’ said Decimal Managing Director Jan Kolbusz.

A online study* of over 1000 Australians commissioned earlier this year by the Australian Institute of Superannuation Trustees (AIST) and Russell Investments showed us that many Australians still have large gaps in their retirement savings, and that “over half (of people aged over 46) say they are running out of time to build a retirement nest egg”.

“This is a worrying statistic,” Mr Kolbusz said. “And while the study also showed some overall improvement in engagement by Australians with their super, we believe that committing resources to building appropriate online tools and personalized, self-start financial modeling guidance will fast-track member engagement to sophisticated and measurable levels.”

Mr Kolbusz said the industry also has the opportunity to take technology-enabled engagement to new levels:  “Funds must avoid the trap of equating online engagement with simply popping an intra fund statement of advice into the hand of every member. The spectrum of engagement runs much deeper and should account for multiple member needs and life stages.

“End-to-end tools’ like the Decimal SmartCalculator, developed over years of research and development, provide a simple and scalable building block as funds gear up for unprecedented member engagement – let’s call it marriage – moving forward,” Mr Kolbusz said.

Click to download a copy of the online study  Tuning into Super by Russell Investments and the Australian Institute of Superannuation Trustees (AIST).

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