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This integration allows users to send emails directly through the Midwinter financial planning software using their familiar Microsoft Outlook address, while also maintaining a record of sent emails within the software.  

Now, when clients reply, it goes directly to your trusted email. 

This update builds on our commitment to streamline communication and marks the initial phase of our expansion to email functionality. 

Set up is simple. Users can navigate to ‘User Management’ in the main menu to authenticate their Office 365 Integration. For more information on the integration, visit our Help Centre. 

The Outlook integration is available now to all Midwinter users at no additional cost. 

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Sydney, 30 August 2023 – Midwinter Financial Services (Midwinter) has today announced it has partnered with Scale Up Paraplanning, TNW Solutions, and Rocket Services to create an integrated paraplanning solution for advisers.

Midwinter has launched the Paraplanning Partners Program following a successful pilot phase. This program connects Midwinter’s clients with a network of highly skilled paraplanning professionals trained in the Midwinter software, enabling seamless collaboration and efficient delivery of paraplanning and administrative services.

A key feature of the program is the unique paraplanning license, providing a secure and streamlined way for paraplanners to access specified client records through the Midwinter financial advice software. This facilitates the seamless delivery of external paraplanning and administrative services, with advice businesses able to tap into this expertise and additional resource pool when required.

Stacey Cowan, Head of Advice, Midwinter says, “Following a successful pilot, Midwinter is thrilled to be partnering with leading paraplanning providers to create a holistic offer to advisers, ensuring they can operate efficiently and effectively in delivering expert advice to their clients. With the support of our trusted paraplanners, advice businesses can confidently embrace Midwinter and focus on what matters most – their clients.”

Alex Gassner, General Manager, Scale Up Paraplanning says, “We are excited to be one of the inaugural members of Midwinter’s Paraplanning Partners Program. This represents a pivotal opportunity for Scale Up Paraplanning to enhance our partnership, deepen industry ties, and strengthen the quality of our service offering. By focusing on our strengths and collaborating to maximise the provision of quality advice, we’re able to better serve our clients and help them reach their goal of scaling advice operations. As we continue to progress on this journey, we are confident that this partnership will shape a promising and transformative future for our business, setting a new standard of excellence in the financial planning sector.”

Esha Khosla, Director, TNW Solutions says, “We are very excited to be a part of the Midwinter’s paraplanning program. Together with Midwinter, we are aspiring to challenge the status quo and add value in the financial planning space. We have a common objective to increase our footprint in the financial services industry and are looking forward to this partnership which will make way for opportunities to service more customers by providing feasible, cost-effective and efficient solutions for advisers and their practices.”

Damien Winberg, Director, Rocket Services says, “We are thrilled to be working with Midwinter as a preferred support partner. Rocket Services has long supported Midwinter’s intuitive software, which coupled with their commitment to ongoing training and customer satisfaction, has been instrumental in our success. This collaboration allows us to bring our expertise in Paraplanning and Admin to a broader audience, offering financial planning practices a seamless back office solution and Advisers more time to focus on delivering outstanding advice to their clients.”

TNW Solutions is an independent Australian-owned and operated business, providing efficient and high-quality paraplanning services nationwide. Scale Up Paraplanning is an Australian-based back-office service provider that delivers outsourced paraplanning, admin/research and practice consulting services. Rocket Services creates, sources and connects expertise offshore to deliver seamless support to clients.

The Paraplanning Partners Program marks another milestone in Midwinter’s commitment to delivering innovative solutions that support the financial planning industry. If you’re a paraplanning business and wish to be considered for future participation in the program, please contact Midwinter to register your interest here.

All Midwinter customers can now access external paraplanning support through the Midwinter Paraplanning Partners Program. For more information, please email sales@midwinter.com.au.

– ENDS –

Media Contact 

For media enquiries please contact: 

Marcha van der Heuvel
Hill+Knowlton Strategies
Marcha.vandenHeuvel@hkstrategies.com

About Midwinter Financial Services Pty Ltd 

Midwinter Financial Services is an innovative financial advice software company based in Sydney, Australia. Founded in 2006, Midwinter was acquired in August 2019 by Bravura Solutions, a leading provider of software solutions for the wealth management, life insurance, and funds administration industries. 

Midwinter’s cloud-based SaaS solutions improve efficiency, scalability, compliance and client engagement for hundreds of Australia’s leading advice practices, dealer groups, wealth management and superannuation firms.  

Our solutions meet the evolving needs of the advice industry, its consumers and the professionals who provide financial advice. 

To learn more, visit www.midwinter.com.au.

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Sydney, 8 March 2023 – Midwinter Financial Services Pty Ltd (Midwinter) has today announced a partnership with CQUniversity Australia to provide financial planning software to its students undertaking financial planning units.

As part of the agreement, CQUniversity’s financial planning students will be able to access Midwinter’s financial advice software, as well as training to support the students using the technology.

The digital advice software will be available to students studying a Bachelor of Business, a Bachelor of Accounting, and a Bachelor of Property Studies, as well as other non-business courses with financial planning units.

Stacey Cowan, Head of Sales at Midwinter says, “With adviser numbers continuing to fall across the industry, Midwinter is excited to support the development of future qualified financial advisers by providing access to advice technology during their education.”

“Midwinter’s modules not only allow students to practice and learn new financial planning skills, but also to familiarise themselves with real-life technology as they prepare to enter the workforce and become financial advice professionals.”

Dr. Angelique N. McInnes, Lecturer, College of Business and Law at CQUniversity, says “CQUniversity is thrilled about the opportunity this partnership offers to our students. The financial services industry is changing fast – and it is now more critical than ever for current and future professionals to understand how technology can help stay compliant and more efficient,” Dr. McInnes commented.

Midwinter’s financial advice modules will be available to all CQUniversity students undertaking financial planning units from Term 1 2023 onwards.  

For more information on Midwinter’s financial planning software or to request a demo, please visit https://www.midwinter.com.au/service/financial-advice-software.

– ENDS –

Media Contact

For media enquiries please contact:

Deborah Dalziel
Marketing Manager, Midwinter Financial Services
ddalziel@midwinter.com.au

Isis Symes
Communications Coordinator, CQUniversity
i.symes@cqu.edu.au

About Midwinter Financial Services Pty Ltd

Midwinter Financial Services is an innovative financial advice software company based in Sydney, Australia. Founded in 2006, Midwinter was acquired in August 2019 by Bravura Solutions, a leading provider of software solutions for the wealth management, life insurance, and funds administration industries.

Midwinter’s cloud-based SaaS solutions improve efficiency, scalability, compliance and client engagement for hundreds of Australia’s leading advice practices, dealer groups, wealth management and superannuation firms.

Our solutions meet the evolving needs of the advice industry, its consumers and the professionals who provide financial advice.

To learn more, visit www.midwinter.com.au.

About CQUniversity

Originally founded in Rockhampton in 1967, CQUniversity is regarded as one of Australia’s most inclusive universities and is a pioneer in the delivery of distance and online education.

As a benchmark leader for how universities should engage and collaborate with communities and industry, CQUniversity has a strong vision to strengthen the regions and communities it serves and after more than half a century working with stakeholders in regional Australia, the University is now a renowned research institution.

It is also recognised by Social Traders as Australia’s only certified social enterprise university.

Find out more by visiting www.cqu.edu.au

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Advisers want to spend more time doing what they do best which is providing great financial advice, while running a profitable business.

Surveys highlight adviser profitability is challenged, driven in part by compliance as well as poor technology and systems. The result is higher adviser operational costs and revenue constrained to the number of clients an adviser can compliantly serve.

With the Quality of Advice Review (QAR) final report handed down on February 8, the industry is poised for change. While some advisers are embracing the findings and their potential to reduce the compliance burden and cost to provide advice, others are sceptical they will provide positive change for the financial advice profession.

In either case, there remains a level of uncertainty, with the details and timing of any legislative changes yet to be determined, and the Financial services minister Stephen Jones indicating he plans to ‘stress-test’ the review’s recommendations before taking them to federal Cabinet.

However, the report is clear in its view that personal advice is not the sole domain of financial advisers, and this transition has already commenced. There are at least 12 superannuation funds in Australia offering personal advice services to their members, underpinned by Midwinter’s digital advice technology.

These funds are offering predominately scaled (intra-fund) advice via digitally enabled services augmented by professional advisers, providing millions of members that may not otherwise seek traditional face to face advice with a means to get financial help.

These organisations are investing significantly in digital advice technology to enable a consistent, compliant, and scalable solution that provides members with flexibility in how they access advice. This digital approach is integrated with other technologies that are core to the end-to-end advice process. For example, member portals at the experience layer can support self-service and engagement, and registry systems at the administration layer enable straight-through-processing of advice.

Rather than stand by as super funds leverage digital technology to provide efficient, engaging, and scalable advice offerings, now is the time for dealer groups to look at how they can adopt similar technologies as part of their proposition to advisers.

The same digital advice technology that super funds use to enable intra-fund advice services, can be used by professional advisers to reduce the time, cost and risk associated with serving their high-net-worth clients. This technology can also help advisers extend their reach and relevance to a broader set of Australians that currently do not access face-to-face advice, unlocking additional value and growth opportunity.

The last few years has seen consumers increasingly embrace online services for everything from grocery shopping to telehealth, legal services and banking. Expectations for digital services that enable more convenient, simple, and secure interactions will ultimately require professional advisers to adopt digital technology to stay relevant.

The QAR final report highlights digital advice tools as an important enabler in the delivery of personal advice services for both relevant and non-relevant providers.

However, this technology is unlikely to replace the human adviser. Robo-advice, which failed to thrive in Australia and the UK, is stalling in the United States according to JPMorgan Head of Digital and Client Solutions Dr. Kelli Keough. It is being replaced by a ‘hybrid’ model that combines the empathy and trust built through a relationship with a human adviser, and the efficiency and convenience of engaging digitally.

This hybrid service model is poised to become the future for progressive advisers that want to keep pace with client expectations.

During the last reporting period, dealer groups highlighted a need to develop innovative technology to enhance the efficient delivery of cost-effective services as well as improve their client experience and digital capabilities.

For an industry heavily reliant on human processing and intervention, fully leveraging the efficiency enabled through digital advice requires a shift in mindset: one where participants are comfortable to automate easily repeatable processes and provide more customer self-service.

Advice businesses have already started down this path, adopting digital technologies such as client portals where their customers can securely view performance reports, update personal information, and access financial documentation.

But these services are just the tip of the digital advice iceberg.

A shift towards radical efficiency requires the use of technology to automate manual tasks across the preparation, implementation, and administration of advice, as well as the optimisation of business processes for data collection, implementation, advice formulation, and documentation.

Reducing the time spent on mundane tasks and tedious background work will enable advisers to put their focus where they provide real value to their customers – educating and guiding them through their financial journey – with the help of visually engaging digital experiences.

In an age where concerns around data security and protection of sensitive information are on the rise, a smarter approach to protecting customers while handling sensitive data and producing advice is critical.

For example, transmitting confidential information by paper or email opens multiple opportunities for a data breach through email transmission, lost documentation or just human error; establishing a secure and integrated online solution with digital fact find and client portal for collecting and sharing client data eliminates a lot of the need for this insecure data transmission and handling. For many advisers this may be the first step to offering a hybrid digital – human service.

For dealer groups that aim to be here long-term, adopting a digital technology ecosystem of services that connect the client to their advice and money is not a question of if, but when.

As an industry, we know that financial advice has a long way to go to offer the seamless digital experiences people consume in their everyday lives. Professional advisers who value practice management support from their licensee will turn to those groups that offer access to integrated technology that reduces their time and cost serve. The by-product is compliance by design that supports the licensee operations and keeps everyone ahead of the curve.

Avoiding change is not the answer. Dealer groups can use their scale to help advisers evolve their offering to include engaging and accessible digital advice experiences, supported by a deliberate technology architecture that considers the adviser total cost of ownership.

As soon as a hybrid advice model becomes the norm – and a piece of advice can be developed in a matter of hours rather than days or weeks – advice businesses that have not adopted these digital technologies will become uncompetitive.

Dealer groups that are already planning, or better yet progressing their digital advice strategy will be the ones that charge ahead of the rest.

Want to find out more about Midwinter’s digital advice capabilities? Click here to request a demo with our sales team.

This article first appeared in Money Management on 22 February.

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Getting good financial advice into the hands of more Australians is one of the biggest challenges facing the finance industry today.

The industry is changing and the number of financial advisers has significantly dropped, with fewer financial advisers to cater to the growing need of people who need good financial advice. In fact, numbers have dropped almost by half since 2019 when there were close to 30,000 financial advisers, and now there are less than 16,000. Those numbers continue to fall as fewer financial advisers enter the industry.

“It is a Wicked Problem, I don’t think there is any doubt around that,” FPA CEO Sarah Abood says on the program. “Right now, we don’t have many advisers and planners. In fact, the numbers have halved in the past couple of years. Things are going in the wrong direction. Demand is going up, and supply is going down,” Sarah says. While finance adviser numbers drop, the people seeking advice is growing as our ageing population gets closer to retirement age. “By 2026, according to the ABS, we’re going to have 137,000 Australians every year turning 65,” Sarah says.

Download the whitepaper to read more on:

• The adviser landscape in Australia
• The role of technology in solving the problem of access to good, affordable advice
• Financial advisers’ reactions to the program and discussion

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Midwinter Chief Commercial Officer Steve Davison welcomes the customer-centric nature of the final report.

Currently, a whole segment of the market is locked out of advice due to prohibitive costs, a problem which is exacerbated by the fact that most personal advice services are too sophisticated for the simple advice needs of the average consumer.

Broadening the scope of organisations that can provide advice is an opportunity to fill the consumer advice gap by allowing financial product providers to serve consumers with simple or limited needs, while professional advisers serve the portion of the market that wants comprehensive advice and ongoing advice services.

Reducing the complexity of the regulatory framework will undoubtedly be welcomed by professional advisers who can shift their time and focus back to providing the recommended ‘good advice’ that consumers desire; advice that considers their personal situation, answers their questions and is not hidden amongst voluminous amounts of disclaimers and paperwork.

Interestingly, the role of digital advice has been called out in the report as a key enabler to increase affordability and accessibility to financial advice.

We believe digital advice technology will play a pivotal role for financial product providers as well as professional advisers by increasing the reach and relevance of financial advice and improving efficiency in advice processes. In fact, this is already happening.

Midwinter digital advice technology already underpins member and adviser-led advice services – predominately intra-fund advice – for 12 superannuation funds. For professional advisers, digital tools such as fact finds and client portals are already starting to reshape how advisers engage with their clients.

Digital advice will by no means completely replace the role of a professional financial adviser; the role of digital advice is to facilitate advice for consumers with simple needs and offer a path to comprehensive advice through client engagement tools and advice journeys delivered by professional advisers.

Although the timing for any legislative changes is still in the air, the time to look at how digital can augment your financial advice services is now. If you would like to learn more, check out our digital advice guide for financial advisers or contact us to learn more about Midwinter’s financial and digital advice technology.

The post Midwinter reflects on the Quality of Advice Review final report appeared first on Midwinter.

Digital technology embedded within the advice experience enables practices to respond to these developments, attracting and retaining more clients and setting their business up for the future.

Technology offers many benefits, whether it’s creating a more efficient business, improving the client experience, or strengthening and supporting compliance.

Digital advice technologies are now emerging to augment those benefits for both advisers and their clients.

“Streamlined technology including digital advice can help advice practices become radically efficient while creating contemporary and more scalable ways to engage with a broader set of clients,” says Midwinter Chief Commercial Officer Steve Davison.

“Digital advice technology creates a new landscape where advisers have more time to focus on what they do best, advise and serve new and existing clients and reduce time, effort and risk to manage the historical advice process. Done well this should drive business value”.

“It becomes a tool for advisers to extend their reach and relevance to more clients in a profitable way.”

The digital transformation journey comes with its own challenges, but the rewards can be substantial and will ultimately reshape how advice is delivered and experienced.

A hybrid advice model that combines the best of digital and adviser-led interactions is set to become standard. Those who fail to adopt it will be left behind.

Technology is already being used to provide advice for simple consumer needs and to support many common adviser interactions. It expands the reach of advice to new clients and leaves more time for advisers to spend on client interactions and to manage more complex financial affairs.

Our white paper ‘Digital is reshaping advice: embrace the benefits’ provides a guide for how advice practices can accelerate their digital transformation journey.

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The new SOA template enables advisers to easily issue advice to the SMSF and includes several bespoke additions to the standard Midwinter SOA template. 

Midwinter has existing SMSF advice capabilities; this new SMSF advice template builds on this capability and provides more strategies that are unique to SMSFs and complemented by SMSF modelling.  

The SMSF SOA template is available to all Midwinter’s clients at no additional cost. 

From Friday 9 December, users will be able to select this new template in Midwinter’s advice generation module, Planbuilder. For more information on how to use the SMSF SOA template, visit our Help Centre here.  

The post Introducing Midwinter’s new SMSF Statement of Advice  appeared first on Midwinter.

From our very popular Midwinter piggy banks to in-depth conversations around the state of financial advice and how advisers are integrating tech into their practice to improve client engagement and efficiency, it was a great two days for the team.

Callum Fursman, Business Development Manager at Midwinter said, “it was fantastic to see so many practices asking the question ‘can my tech do more for me?’ With the Quality of Advice Review coming out, there has never been a greater focus on innovation and excitement when advisers and paraplanners discover new solutions that can improve their practice right out of the box.”

Thomas Tolevski, Business Development Manager at Midwinter said, “I thoroughly enjoyed connecting with the wider financial advice network and having some robust conversations around how Midwinter can help advisers run their practice more efficiently whilst helping their clients achieve their financial goals.”

Thanks to everyone who stopped by to say hello during the conference.

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