Mr Fox, who joined ClearView as Business Development Manager in mid-2017 from BT Financial Group, replaces Kathryn Williamson who was internally appointed to the newly-created position of Head of Distribution Strategy in February.

He will report to Christopher Blaxland-Walker, ClearView General Manager of Distribution. “Michael is an experienced sales executive who has spent the past 15 years working closely with financial advisers and licensees, and managing high performing sales teams,” Mr Blaxland-Walker said.

“He is extremely well-regarded by advisers and his peers, and we feel fortunate to have such a standout internal candidate step up to fill this important role.”

ClearView’s flagship life insurance product, LifeSolutions is currently on 374 Approved Product Lists (APLs) and the group’s wealth management platforms, WealthFoundations and WealthSolutions, are on 31 APLs. ClearView also offers a range of model portfolios and managed accounts.

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Kathryn Williamson

Listed diversified financial services company, ClearView has appointed Kathryn Williamson to the newly-created position of Head of Distribution Strategy with responsibility for expanding the group’s relationships in the independent financial adviser (IFA) market and driving deeper adviser engagement.

Ms Williamson, formerly ClearView State Manager for NSW/ACT, will focus on building support for ClearView’s market-leading life insurance and wealth management solutions through a range of distribution initiatives.

She will work closely with the group’s product, operations and marketing teams to help shape its product design and service offering, and ensure effective adviser communication.

She will continue reporting to General Manager Distribution, Christopher Blaxland-Walker.

“For the past four years, Kathryn has excelled as state manager NSW/ACT, building and managing a high calibre team and taking our flagship life insurance product, LifeSolutions, to the IFA market. She is ideally- positioned and qualified to help drive and execute ClearView’s ongoing distribution strategy,” Mr Blaxland-Walker said.

“As a business, we are focused on expanding our presence in the IFA market and continuing to grow our market share in both life insurance and wealth management. The business continues to grow rapidly, making it critical to have an experienced and dedicated person to focus on distribution strategy.”

LifeSolutions is currently on 374 Approved Product Lists (APLs) and the group’s wealth management platforms, WealthFoundations and WealthSolutions, are on 31 APLs.

Ms Williamson said ClearView was actively rethinking the way it engaged with financial advisers and licensees given that the way clients were communicating and engaging with advisers was evolving.

“A key focus for ClearView this year is helping practices adapt to change by being more efficient and productive,” she said.

“Many practices are struggling to deal with the regulatory and compliance burden, not to mention increasing uncertainty about the future, so it’s imperative for us to help them understand, prepare and adapt to change.”

“Consistently delivering competitive, client-centric solutions is just a ticket to the game. We’re committed to supporting advisers through education and training, technology and greater automation, and practice management support.”

ClearView is actively recruiting for a State Manager for NSW/ACT.

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Christopher Blaxland-Walker

Listed diversified financial services company ClearView has launched an innovative online payment facility that enables financial advisers to charge and process a flat fee for life insurance advice, as it strives to help advisers maintain and build their fee income amidst sweeping remuneration changes.

The secure Advice Implementation Fee (AIF) facility, which is enabled by National Australia Bank and accessible via the ClearView website, gives advisers the ability to efficiently charge a fee that has been agreed to by the client.

The AIF facility is intended to help advisers to develop and implement alternative remuneration structures including supplementing reduced year one life insurance commission payments under the Life Insurance Framework (LIF), exchanging renewal commission and premium discounts for an upfront fee, and charging an advice fee irrespective of whether a client ultimately proceeds with a life insurance application.

According to Christopher Blaxland-Walker, ClearView General Manager of Distribution, the AIF facility is a much-needed and valuable tool for many advisers who stand to see their cashflow steadily decrease under LIF unless they take action.

“Advisers need to rethink their commission and fee structures, and start asking to be paid a reasonable fee for the vital work they do and the value they add. This is a new and uncomfortable concept for many but it has the potential to transform their business,” he said.

“While some licensees already facilitate the payment of advice fees, there are still many that don’t have a practical solution, particularly in the boutique space. Our facility is available to all advisers, under a single adviser login alongside our quote and application tools.”

The launch of the AIF facility follows the January upgrade of ClearView’s life insurance eQuote and eApplication system which streamlines the LifeSolutions application process and implements TeleInterviewing and Tele-Underwriting.

Mr Blaxland-Walker said many advisers were still unsure about how to tackle challenges brought about by LIF and were working out the most appropriate remuneration model for them.

“The right model will vary from adviser to adviser depending on a multitude of factors including their overall business model, their client demographic and target market and the level of service they provide,” he said.

“Our AIF facility is intended to give advisers more choices and the opportunity to evolve their pricing and proposition at their own pace.”

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Christoper Blaxland-Walker

Listed diversified financial services company ClearView has made significant enhancements to its life insurance quote and application system, designed to help financial advisers run more efficient businesses and secure cover for their clients as quickly as possible.

Enhancements include an intuitive new-look front-end and integrated eQuote and eApplication to streamline the application process and implement Tele-Interviewing and Tele-Underwriting. These changes will help reduce the administration burden on advice practices.

The enhancements are a key plank in ClearView’s Adviser Engagement Strategy and underpin the group’s life insurance application platform, AQUA (Adviser Quote Underwriting and Apply). They are the first in a series of planned upgrades for 2018 with additional enhancements to be released later this quarter.

ClearView General Manager of Distribution Christopher Blaxland-Walker said the introduction of the Life Insurance Framework (LIF) made it critical that advisers ran productive practices, supported by life insurers that offered smart product design, efficient processes and comprehensive technical training.

“We are committed to continuously improving our products and services, and supporting financial advisers to adapt and grow their businesses under LIF,” he said.

“We recognise that the way advisers are interacting with their clients is evolving and similarly we need to evolve and improve the way we engage with advisers to ensure we are easy to do business with. As such, we have given our quote tool a facelift, introduced greater functionality and will continue investing in our systems and technology.”

Mr Blaxland-Walker cited research from the 2017 Investment Trends Planner Risk Report which found that managing the administration burden was one of the biggest challenges facing advice practices, and advisers wanted greater support to drive business efficiencies and manage the impact of the LIF reforms.

He said the launch of Tele-Interviewing would drive practice efficiencies because it enabled advisers to effectively outsource the creation and approval of clients’ Personal Statements which was a critical but often time-consuming part of the application process.

“Many advisers have already integrated Tele-Interview into their advice processes because it releases them to spend more time providing strategic advice and less time on paperwork and administration,” he said.

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Christopher Blaxland-Walker

The financial services industry will lose its emotional connection with thousands of clients unless it finds creative ways to stop mature advisers from prematurely retiring ahead of the introduction of the Life Insurance Framework, according to a white paper by ClearView.

Titled What’s old is new again, the paper claims many mature advisers in their 50s and early 60s are at risk of exiting the industry due to broad structural and regulatory changes, despite their desire, ability and capacity to continue providing advice.

Launching the paper, Christopher Blaxland-Walker, General Manager of Distribution at ClearView, said the convergence of four major factors: demographic changes; digital disruption; remuneration reform under LIF; and stricter education and training requirements, threatened to extinguish an entire generation of invaluable knowledge and experience.

“Moving into 2017 and beyond, it’s important that there isn’t a repeat of 2004 when the introduction of the Financial Services Reform Act drove out many advisers, both good and bad,” he said.

“FSRA got rid of many unqualified and poorly qualified agents, and rightly so, but in the confusion many competent mature advisers exited too. They weren’t adequately supported to gain the necessary qualifications, adjust their business models and manage the transition.”

To prevent a similar tragedy, the paper said dealer groups, professional associations and product manufacturers needed to collectively ensure mature advisers had access to the right training and tools to meet their obligations and transform their businesses while those who wanted to step back from giving day-to-day advice had other compelling career opportunities.

Potential solutions raised in the paper included formal and informal mentoring programs that marry experienced advisers and newcomers; and the creation of flexible ‘relationship manager’ roles within manufacturers, licensees and practices, designed specifically for senior advisers and former advisers.

These full-time, part-time and casual roles would likely include client-facing responsibilities such as welcoming new and prospective clients, connecting them to an adviser, articulating the value of advice and handling claims.

“The current generation of advisers are more educated and technically proficient than any other but they can still learn skills and qualities like empathy and resilience from mature advisers. If the industry can successfully close the generation knowledge gap, the result will be a profession that’s mastered the art of winning new clients and building personal relationships not only business relationships,” Mr Blaxland-Walker said.

ClearView Wealth Limited ClearView Wealth Limited 2 He added that the financial services industry had an opportunity to boost national productivity by helping mature Australians stay in the workforce for longer.

“As an industry, we encourage people to stay in the workforce for as long as possible in order to build up their retirement savings, and the majority of projections and case studies we produce assume a retirement age of 65 but in reality Australians are retiring much earlier than that due to sickness, redundancy and lack of suitable job opportunities,” he said.

“It’s important to continue challenging the government to create jobs and economic growth but as an industry we must do more to ensure that our most experienced, skilful and entrepreneurial advisers and support staff stay engaged for as long as they wish and by doing so, the industry can retain invaluable knowledge and experience.”

Download What’s old is new again.

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