Astute research indicates tied agents lead IFAs in life assurance distribution
22 October 2007 | People and Companies | News | Astute FSE
Astute FSE, the financial services exchange used by some 18 000 advisers when undertaking financial planning for clients, has detected a marked shift in the distribution of financial products in South Africa.In terms of annual research to assess user satisfaction with the Astute offering, it emerged that over the past year there had been a 7% increase in life assurance agents, compared with a 6% drop in the numbers of independent financial advisers, operating on the Astute system.
According to Astute managing director, Biddie Biddulph, "Changing product distribution dynamics are attributed mainly to the considerable intake of new financial advisers by life assurers. The trend, however, also follows implementation of the Financial Advisory & Intermediary Services Act (FAIS) and the Financial Intelligence Centre Act (FICA) requiring advisers to adhere to strict regulation, especially in terms of adhering to the fit and proper requirements."
Just under 47% of Astute's users come from the ranks of independent financial advisers, down from 52.7% in 2006. Agents representing specific life offices accounted for 33.7% of the user base - up from 26.4% last year.
Astute users indicated continued satisfaction with the service, which assimilates information from companies offering life assurance, disability and investment products for use by advisers on behalf of their clients.
"We've achieved strong ratings on service levels and value added to the financial advisory practice. This is reflected in consistent transaction volumes that, in future, will be driven by the growing array of products available to advisers on the Astute platform," said Biddulph.
The 2007 user survey also revealed growing use by advisers of financial needs analysis (FNA) systems, many of which draw on the Astute portal to access and integrate data from different product providers across the industry.
In practical terms, this means that for clients with policies from several different companies, intermediaries are able to seamlessly and simultaneously download the required, standardised information in a matter of minutes. Advisers, with the necessary client consent, are able to draw information that helps determine existing financial provision before undertaking financial needs analysis to ascertain shortfalls in the clients portfolio.
Spotlight proved the most commonly used FNA system, followed by Pathfinder and Blueprint.
