Astute Financial Services Exchange Newsletter

In this issue of Astute News, the following:

CONTENT

1. TECHNOLOGY AND SUPPORT
2. TRAINING
3. KEY ACCOUNT MANAGEMENT
4. COMPLIANCE / ADMINISTRATION
5. PRACTICE MANAGEMENT TIP

Congratulations to Glyn Davies from Liberty Life Agency Franchise who has won Astute’s R500 top performer prize.

Keep an eye on Astute News for future winners, it might just be you!

1. TECHNOLOGY AND SUPPORT

Sadly our Technology Manager, Marsha Koekemoer, will be leaving Astute to pursue outside interests. Craig Bergsteedt joined us from 3 March 2008 to assume the Technology Manager position.

Craig brings a wealth of project management and technical experience, not only in the life industry but also in other related sectors. In the few weeks that he has been with us he has become an integral part of the team and has already contributed greatly to the ongoing success of the service that we deliver to you, our users.

We are also pleased to announce that Pearl Shange joined Astute from 3 March as business analyst. Pearl's extensive knowledge of the life industry as well as her proven track record in dealing with user testing brings a valuable dimension to the team.

We would like to wish Marsha all the best for the future. To Craig and Pearl: Welcome aboard!

Regent Life

We are pleased to announce that testing of the Regent Life integration is moving along rapidly, with both teams dedicated to concluding the process in the very near future. We will keep you updated on our progress.

Discovery Life

Discovery Life implemented a fix on their production, resulting in policy information download inaccuracies. This is being worked on and will be resolved soon.

S.Net and Blueprint Upgrades

An S-Net upgrade, as well as a Blueprint FNA system upgrade, resulted in users losing their usernames and passwords. We advise users that don’t remember their password to reset their passwords via the Astute website. If you don’t know your username please contact your administrator or the Astute Support Centre on 011 408 222 or [email protected]. Please note that your new password will be e-mailed to you so you need to have a valid e-mail address and ensure that your mailbox isn’t full.

2. TRAINING

Free Astute training sessions will be conducted in the following areas during April and May 2008, depending on the number of nominations received:

Training consists of the following:
* Functionalities on the Astute Home Page
* Requesting and retrieving product information on the Astute website
* Administration
* Interpreting the Astute screen views

As we will be explaining how to analyse and interpret information available on Astute, it is important that you have a general knowledge of products in the market.
As a result, you will be issued with a pre-training study guide. If you do not have the necessary knowledge, please complete all of the assignments and bring the completed study guide to the training session.

As a result, you will be issued with a pre-training study guide. If you do not have the necessary knowledge, please complete all of the assignments and bring the completed study guide to the training session.

Nominations close one week before the training date.

Please send your nominations to [email protected]
Clearly indicate your name, surname, contact details and the ID number of the registered Astute user, as well as the area where you would like to attend training. The study guide and venue details will be e-mailed to you once we have received your nomination.

Key Account Training

We would like to offer personalised training to our valued partners. If you are linked to any of our Key Accounts listed below, and would like us to arrange training in your area, please send us your contact details and we will contact you to make arrangements.

•Discovery
•FIA
•FNB
•IFANet
•Liberty
•Momentum
•Nedcor
•Old Mutual
•ABSA
•FPI
•LUASA
•Masthead
•PSG
•Sanlam
•Standard Bank

Please send your requests to: [email protected]

3 . KEY ACCOUNT MANAGEMENT

Liberty Life users only. Astute training workshops will be held on the dates below - please book for the session of your choice by replying to [email protected] (including your contact details). Venues will be disclosed upon booking:

16 April Randburg
23 April Sandton
30 April Houghton
8 May Pretoria
15 May Westrand

The tax year-end promotion was concluded at the end of February and all users will receive their free transactions by the end of March.

4. COMPLIANCE / ADMINISTRATION

Client consent

Monthly audits reveal cases where advisors accessing the system to obtain policy information are not in possession of the required client consent to obtain the client’s information. If an audit reveals that you are in breach of the Intermediary Agreement requirements in this regard, your access to the Astute platform will be cancelled and further investigations conducted.

We recently had 2 cases, as a result of this, where intermediaries are investigated for S-rating, so be very careful when you request a client’s information!

Access will only be granted once the client consent has been provided and approval from the Compliance Committee has been received.

When replying to an audit please contact Ria Stoddart by email [email protected] or fax 086 683 2335

5 . PRACTICE MANAGEMENT TIP

From The Institute of Practice Management: www.practice101.net

Most financial advisers provide similar services to other advisers. An excellent way to differentiate yourself as a financial adviser is by narrowcasting your services. This means that you will need to define yourself by determining your value proposition. Focus on a clearly identified market niche and become a specialist in the unique financial issues of your target market.

Should you require additional information in this regard, please call our Support Centre on 011 408 2222.