Astute Newsletter No: 9 of 2008
CONTENTS
1. MOMENTUM WEALTH ON ASTUTE
2. PERSONAL SERVICES COMPANIES/TRUSTS SYSTEM
3. PRODUCT ENHANCEMENTS BY CONTENT PROVIDERS
4. UPDATE OF CLIENT DATA BASE VIA ASTUTE
5. ASTUTE TRAINING
6. FINANCIAL PLANNING SUPPORT SERVICES (FPSS)
1. MOMENTUM WEALTH ON ASTUTE
As was communicated earlier, Momentum Wealth is now available on the Astute platform as a LISP product provider. Our thanks go out to the team at Momentum for all of their efforts in getting their data integrated, well done!
Please watch this space for announcements regarding additional LISP companies joining the Astute platform before the end of the year.
2. PERSONAL SERVICES COMPANIES/TRUSTS SYSTEM
Astute has launched a new service, The Personal Service Company/Trust System, on behalf of life insurance companies in the industry. The objective of the system is to assist the life insurance companies to administer the tax status of intermediaries, as required by the income tax legislation in the country.
This system has been finalised and the initial notices will be sent to FSP’s on 1 October 2008. Due to time constraints, we encourage all FSPs to complete their online questionnaire as soon as possible to avoid the last minute rush. During the take-on phase, a lot of work was required to clean up contact details. It is therefore imperative that you check and update your details when completing the questionnaire relating to your tax status.
Please do not hesitate to call our Support Centre on 011 408 2222, should you need any additional information in this regard.
3. PRODUCT ENHANCEMENTS BY CONTENT PROVIDERS
Changes implemented by Discovery Life
Discovery Life has resolved the issue with waiting period = other. The mapping of the Payback values has also been completed as requested by users.
For those users interested in this information, the payback values are coming through as sub accounts, and should not have any impact on your current systems.
Altrisk Changes and Fixes
Altrisk have made some significant enhancements to the portfolio information available via the Astute platform. Portfolio information is now available for the following new and existing products:
• Joint Life – 2006
• Joint Life – 2007
• Income Protection Plans – 2006
• Income Replacement Plans – 2007
• Whole Life 15 – 2006 and 2007
• Whole Life Experience Rated – 2007
• All Stand Alone benefits – 2006 and 2007
• Altrisk Life Portfolio (i.e. all 2008 range products)
In certain of the Altrisk products, beneficiaries can be defined as the assured’s Estate or Trust etc. These cases will not be represented as natural persons, but as companies with limited demographic information.
Policies with Data Errors
Momentum Life and Altrisk have made changes to the portfolio data to inform you when a policy exists in the client’s portfolio, but the data cannot be provided electronically via Astute. While you will still need to contact the respective company to obtain the information you will be aware that the product exists in the clients’ portfolio. This has been an issue that has been logged via our support centre a number of times.
4. UPDATE OF CLIENT DATABASE VIA ASTUTE
It comes to our attention from time to time, that advisers access the Astute system to obtain policy information for their total client base, to update their FNA or practice management system, for instance when a new system is acquired or when software is upgraded.
We need to stress that you have to be in possession of a valid signed client consent form for each client where the Astute system is used to obtain product information. When we become aware of these instances where an extraordinary number of downloads are requested by an intermediary, an audit will be conducted to confirm the validity of the client consents.
5. ASTUTE TRAINING
Please take note that these are the last training sessions that will be conducted for 2008. Training will commence again during February 2009.
Free Astute training sessions will be conducted in the following areas during October and November 2008, depending on the number of nominations received:
Date Area Time
20-Oct Pretoria 10:00 - 13:00
24-Oct Randburg 10:00 - 13:00
28-Oct Cape Town 10:00 - 13:00
12-Nov Pretoria 10:00 - 13:00
13-Nov Randburg 10:00 - 13:00
18-Nov Cape Town 10:00 - 13:00
25-Nov Pietermaritzburg 10:00 - 13:00
26-Nov Durban 10:00 - 13:00
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.
Nominations close one week before the training date.
Please send your nominations to Letitia at [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.
For special requests such as group training for Astute downloads into a specific FNA system, you can also contact Letitia and we will do our best to accommodate your needs.
6. FINANCIAL PLANNING SUPPORT SERVICES (FPSS)
Durban-based FPSS aims to free advisers from time-consuming daily administration processes, thereby giving them more time to spend on building relationships with clients.
FPSS provides secure off-site professional administration management services that include:
•Daily administration: processing and follow-up
•Client communication: keeping in contact with your clients
•Business management reports: keeping you in touch with your business
•Commission management reports: keeping you in touch with your finances
Should you already have a PA or office assistant, this is the perfect opportunity to relieve them of the mundane back office processes and skill them up to do the fact finds for your financial needs analysis.
Other services on offer are: access to compliance officers via ‘links’ on the FPSS website, document storage, off-site data storage, referrals to other affiliates, and services such as Wintax, FNA software, succession planning, practice management and much more.
Should you be interested in any of these services, or need more information, e-mail us at [email protected] or phone 031 767 4012. Also feel free to visit our website www.fpss.co.za.
Disclaimer
Astute cannot guarantee the accuracy of the content of this electronic communication, which is provided for general information purposes only. You should verify any of the information you intend using before making any decisions. Astute will not accept responsibility for any direct or indirect loss or damage you may suffer as a result of using or relying on any information in this newsletter.
