Kate Anderson

Leading cloud-based corporate compliance and legal document provider NowInfinity has introduced a Recognised Overseas Pension Scheme (ROPS) compliant SMSF Deed, expanding its comprehensive legal document suite for financial professionals.

ROPS are a type of overseas pension plan recognised by Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs (HMRC) in the UK. The new SMSF Deed assists financial professionals with clients who are Australian residents and aged 55 years or older, to transfer their UK pension into an Australian SMSF.

Previously, obtaining a ROPS-specific deed required legal review so the trust deed could be tailored for this purpose, adding time and cost. Now, financial professionals can access the compliant SMSF Deed directly via NowInfinity, simplifying the process.

NowInfinity’s General Manager Kate Anderson commented: “Many Australians have lived and worked in the UK, and it can be complicated to transfer UK pensions to Australia, NowInfinity is helping to simplify this process for our clients and their customers.”

This release is complimented by significant enhancements to NowInfinity’s SMSF pension documentation, offering:

• a more flexible pension commencement document package (which includes a pension agreement and product disclosure statement) for both Account-Based Pensions (ABP) and Transition to Retirement Income Streams (TRIS), and
• Aa new annual pension payment document package (which includes documents such as the member request letter, letter from the fund acknowledging the request, minutes etc) to streamline the management of annual pension payments.

“These enhancements further simplify solving our client’s need for accessible and compliant documentation enabling NowInfinity clients to efficiently service their customers,” said Anderson.

With one in four new SMSFs in Australia established using NowInfinity’s SMSF Deed, these updates reinforce its position as a leading provider of SMSF documentation – ensuring compliance, flexibility and ease of use for professionals managing SMSFs.

“The addition of the ROPS-specific SMSF Deed demonstrates NowInfinity’s ongoing commitment to provide legal documents and compliance solutions that drive productivity and empower financial professionals to better serve their clients,” said Anderson.

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Ms Cabrera was previously Senior Product Manager, Financial Planning at Morningstar and also spent four years at Centrepoint Alliance, most recently as Head of Advice Technology.  Ms Cabrera has also held roles at TAL Life and Iress.

Ms Cabrera will oversee financial planning technology solutions business Enzumo, which was acquired by Centrepoint Alliance in June 2020. Ms Cabrera will report to Kate Anderson, Executive, Advice Services and Solutions.

Commenting on the hire, Ms Anderson said: “We are delighted to welcome Farisha to Enzumo. Farisha has extensive experience in delivering market-leading advice technology, as well as leading teams that provide exceptional training and support for advisers.”

Ms Cabrera said: “Having acted ahead of COVID-19 to develop greater technology-based services, Centrepoint Alliance is leading Australia in its strategic approach to advice technology and I am very excited to be a part of this.”

Enzumo is the leading provider of financial planning software consulting, customisation and workflow solutions, and e-learning management solutions to the financial planning and advisory industry. Its clients include mid-tier wealth institutions, dealer groups and financial advisory practices.

“Enzumo has a very high-quality team and I am looking forward to working with them and helping to drive the continued expansion and success of the business,” Ms Cabrera said.

Ms Anderson said investment in technology remained a key strategic priority for Centrepoint Alliance.

“In addition to the Enzumo acquisition, we have made a number of significant investments in technology in recent years, including the introduction of Centrepoint Connect and the development of the Centrepoint Alliance Practice Dashboard,” she said.

“We remain committed to continuing to deliver cutting-edge technology solutions to both authorised representatives and self-licensed businesses and leveraging our scale advantage to further build on our capabilities.”

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Prior to joining Centrepoint Alliance, Mr Stojanovski was a Portfolio Manager at IOOF Holdings, responsible for the management of IOOF’s model portfolios, managed accounts, investment strategy and asset allocation. He has held several responsibilities in research at IOOF, across managed funds, equities, and portfolio research. 

“We are delighted to welcome Daniel to the team,” said Kate Anderson, Centrepoint Alliance Group Executive of Advice Services and Solutions.“Daniel has a great passion for portfolio construction, contributing to IOOF’s investment philosophy, while also being the key architect of IOOF’s responsible investing ‘ESG’ investment philosophy.”

Prior to joining IOOF Holdings in 2015, Mr Stojanovski spent two and a half years with Challenger Limited, working across numerous funds in the Fidante Partners Division. He also worked at Morgan Stanley within its Investment Management division.

Mr Stojanovski holds a Bachelor of Commerce degree, majoring in Economics and Business Law, from The University of Wollongong and a Master of Finance degree from the University of Technology, Sydney.

 “I am looking forward to working with an organisation that is genuinely passionate about helping advisers to deliver quality advice for Australians,” he said.

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Kate Anderson

As global markets continue their downward spiral, investors are looking to their financial advisers to help them fortify their portfolios and stay on track, according to leading advice service provider Centrepoint Alliance.

Kate Anderson, Group Executive Advice Services and Solutions at Centrepoint Alliance (pictured), said advisers are currently receiving high volumes of calls from clients seeking support amid the current market uncertainty.

“Clients are wanting to speak to someone about what markets are doing and they need the assurance from their advisers not to panic,” she said.

“Every client is different, so there are no common questions, but we know that advisers are receiving many calls from clients seeking some degree of certainty at this stressful time.”

Important ballast during difficult times

Ms Anderson said it is important for financial advisers to overcommunicate with clients in the current climate to help allay any concerns.

“Advisers have an important role to play during this time to guide clients through important and possibly life-changing decisions about their investments, superannuation and pensions,” she said.

“We have seen markets tumble before but they will bounce back and that is an important message, particularly for those who are still accumulating. For clients who are transitioning to retirement, they are the ones who more than ever will need to speak to a professional about their income requirements.”

Centrepoint Alliance is encouraging all advice businesses, whether large or small, to test remote working to ensure they have the technology and infrastructure in place to continue to support clients as social distancing becomes the norm during the COVID-19 outbreak.

“This is an opportune time to demonstrate to clients the value of advice and confirm your commitment to remain open for business, just in a different way,” she said.

Unchartered waters: Reassessing portfolios and shifting behaviour

Advisers are also playing an important role in helping clients to reassess portfolios and preferences in volatile and rapidly changing market conditions.

Miriam Herold, Head of Research at Centrepoint Alliance said it is vital for advisers to focus on relevant investment time horizons with their clients.

“There is no one-size-fits all approach to dealing with the fear and loss aversion which is likely to be triggered in some clients by recent market turmoil and the developing pandemic,” she said.

“It is at times like these that advisers can really add value by helping a client to understand their individual time horizon and financial requirements.

“The worst thing a client can do after a large equity market fall is to lock in losses by selling their equity exposure, if they don’t require the assets to fund their living expenses.”

Now that the market has officially plunged into bear market territory at the fastest pace in history.  Ms Herold said the importance of constructing well diversified portfolios appropriate for clients’ requirements and preferences is more important than ever.

The low correlation between different asset classes and their performance under different market conditions and economic scenarios is still one of the most effective strategies for managing volatility and smoothing returns for clients.

“The importance of diversification across asset classes cannot be emphasised enough,” Ms Herold said.

“It is extremely difficult to time the market and taking this type of action may cost portfolios dearly over the long run. Instead of attempting to make tactical changes, we recommend including allocations to strategies with a specific focus on downside protection and capital preservation.”

Increased support for advisers

Centrepoint Alliance has implemented a range of measures to support advisers and their clients in the current environment.

In addition to holding weekly briefings for advisers and providing regular updates on industry and market changes, the group is developing templates and tools to support advisers when speaking to their clients, regardless of the technology they are using.

“As an industry, we need to be patient as the government and regulatory bodies work through the current challenges,” Ms Anderson said.

“A good licensee should be keeping advisers up to date with what’s happening and helping advisers to communicate with their clients in the most timely and effective way.”

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