Industry training and support firm mySolutions has formed alliances with Kiwi Adviser Network (Trail) and Prosper Group to broaden the aggregation and services options for independent advice businesses.
Kiwi Adviser Network and Prosper Group are fee-based services that provide a range of business support offerings to advisers – primarily in the lending area – in addition to compliance, software, and mortgage broking.
mySolutions CEO Kevin Smee says: “Each of our organisations supports independent adviser businesses to stand alone and grow. We think of it is a ‘federation of independent states’, with each serving the same sorts of financial advisers with their own specialty services.”
Keith Kerr, Director of mySolutions, says being tied to a CRM system or aggregation facility aren’t the only options for mortgage or insurance advisers who have their own FAP licence.
He says: “For years multi-disciplined practitioners like myself have struggled to find the right group structure – mortgage aggregators have offered very little in developing insurance or KiwiSaver business lines, and insurance aggregators haven’t been able to get me access for the lending lines.
“So we’ve always had to choose mortgage aggregation and struggled to develop the insurance business lines. These new partnerships are a game changer for the multi-disciplined adviser.
“With these partners in place I can get lending access and insurance expertise, and as a bonus I can pick and choose who or where I want to get compliance or software solutions and so on. It will accelerate development of insurance business for independent mortgage brokers.”
Overwhelmed
Kerr says it is evident that many of the advisers pursuing their stand-alone licence are feeling overwhelmed with the time and cost demands from product suppliers, aggregators, regulatory entities, and service providers.
“There is a lot to do,” he says. “And getting a full licence application is just one of those things that’s being balanced with everything else.”
Smee says: “We can see so many possibilities that it is an incredibly exciting future. But not all advisers are at the same stage of business development though.
“For some, stepping out and creating their own practice is something relatively new as there are quite a few advisers who thought they’d be working under someone’s structure – until they read the fine print and realised that having their own licence was the best way forward.
This is a game changer for the multi-disciplined adviser…
“So there are some who have a lot of organizational work going on while they also try to earn a living and grow what is a effectively a new independent business.”
mySolutions is running monthly workshops alongside its support programmes to provide extra assistance to members who need help with their FAP applications.
On July 1 mySolutions becomes a subscription-only service with membership fees from $50 a month. Under the new model insurance commissions will be paid directly to its adviser members.
See our story: mySolutions Confirms Major Restructure