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.

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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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Aimed at financial advisers, the investment community and consumers, Wicked Problems: Visionary investors brings together industry experts to discuss some of Australia and the globe’s most wicked finance problems.

The program forms the media vehicle behind a collective of like-minded individuals from the investment community who are deploying billions of dollars into solving problems like climate change, sustainability, accessible financial advice and protectionism.

Many people are not accessing financial advice because of several perceived barriers, whether it’s not being able to afford it or thinking that financial advice is not for them. Since most people who seek financial advice are high-net-worth individuals, there’s a large portion of Australians who are missing out on much-needed advice.

With an unstable economic landscape in a post-pandemic world, access to good financial advice is needed more than ever. Steve Davison, Chief Commercial Officer at Midwinter is pleased to support and participate in this conversation along with Sarah Abood, CEO of the Financial Planning Association of Australia.

“We are pleased to be the foundation partner for the first two episodes which focus on how to make good financial advice more affordable and accessible to Australians,” said Davison. “Over the past few years, declining adviser numbers and increasing input costs have meant most Aussies are essentially priced out of the advice market. Leaning on the proposed changes in the Quality of Advice Review and Midwinter’s digital advice capabilities, we are on a mission to change this by providing advisers with the technology they need to provide affordable advice solutions.”

Watch episodes 1a and 1b below or find the full series on the ausbiz website.

Wicked Problems: Visionary Investors Episode 1a

Wicked Problems: Visionary Investors Episode 1b

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The Quality of Advice Review proposes reforms to simplify the regulatory framework to better enable the provision of high quality, accessible and affordable financial advice for retail clients.

As outlined in our submission* to the Quality of Advice Review Proposals Paper consultation, we believe the proposed shift to regulate the outcome of advice rather than the process, with a focus on providing ‘good advice,’ is a more effective way to serve consumer needs and will facilitate innovation around how advice is provided. Technology will be pivotal to enabling this innovation and achieving the objectives of this review – to better enable the provision of high quality, accessible, and affordable financial advice – as well as supporting the health of the financial advice profession.

We support the removal of general advice and agree that individuals and organisations providing financial advice should do so within a suitable regulatory framework. Any information that falls outside this framework (a broadened definition of personal advice) does not need to be regulated, as doing so creates unnecessary risk for organisations, and a barrier to useful information and guidance for consumers.

In addition, we agree that the current SOA is a burden to advice providers, and it is questionable that it provides much, if any, value to consumers. We welcome the proposal to remove the requirement to provide an SOA and allow advisers to provide advice in the way that best suits their customers. However, we believe consumers will still want – and need – to be provided with an artefact, as a record of their engagement with a financial adviser, with the primary objective being to inform and explain the advice provided and demonstrate its value. Enabling advice providers to issue this information in a more user-friendly manner will support efficiency in demonstrating and recording the provision of good advice, leading to a better and more informative experience for consumers.

We see the shift to focus on consumer outcomes as a positive way forward for the industry, but only if advice providers are confident that they can invest in the innovation to provide ‘good advice’ rather than risk mitigation and compliance. This will reduce the need for RegTech solutions to manage complicated processes and open a path for increased innovation and differentiation around advice provision and the consumer experience.

The review has been deliberate around encompassing all advice providers. Broadening the scope of organisations that can provide advice is an opportunity to fill the consumer advice gap.

If the proposed reforms pass, superannuation funds, banks, other financial product providers and new entrants have an opportunity to become key players in the provision of financial advice. This will only work if these organisations have confidence that they can invest in and manage the risks inherent in providing personal advice.

Should these organisations enter (or re-enter) advice – which will become more viable if the proposed reforms move forward – there is an opportunity for relevant providers to differentiate from non-relevant providers through market forces as opposed to regulation. This may be analogous with the independent financial adviser segment in the US that have fiduciary obligations to the client.

Midwinter believes that if the proposed changes pass, advice businesses will need to innovate and may need to accept additional business risk to be competitive. Pleasingly, the proposed reforms will support increased digitisation in the advice profession. Midwinter has already built and is continuing to develop new digital client facing technology that will support consumer engagement and ‘good advice’ outcomes through access, transparency, education, and increased adviser efficiency.

The future of the advice profession is a hybrid model, combining digital and adviser-led interactions. Digital technology will provide advice for simple consumer needs and support interactions with professional advisers. All advice providers could benefit from a single advice engine that can service all types of advice and channels including general information, self-directed, intra-fund, and comprehensive advice, leveraging efficiency and risk reduction from common components which can be tailored to different audiences or individual situations.

You can find out more about the Quality of Advice Review, on the Treasury website.

*Midwinter Financial Services Pty Ltd (Midwinter) is wholly owned by Bravura Solutions Limited (Bravura), a provider of wealth management software solutions in Australia, including in the areas of superannuation, advice, and customer engagement. Midwinter’s submission to the Quality of Advice Review Proposals Paper consultation was made as part of Bravura. You can download Bravura’s official positioning statement on the Quality of Advice Review Proposals Paper here.

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The 3-day conference, taking place in the Gold Coast from from 21 to 23 September, will bring together experts and leaders from in and outside Advice.

If you’re attending the conference, come visit Midwinter at booth 25 where you’ll have an opportunity to meet the team, have your photo taken with your favourite adviser moment, and pick up some great merchandise.

On day 2 – Thursday 22 September – Midwinter Chief Commercial Officer, Steve Davison and Head of Advice Sales, Stacey Cowan will present an Advice Strategy breakout session: Digital Advice; Fool’s Gold or Hidden Treasure. You can catch their session at 1:45pm – click here to view the full conference agenda.

To find out more about AFA Thrive 2022, visit their website: www.afaconference.com.au.

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According to the Future Ready IX report released in February, Australian financial advisers are extremely positive about what they can achieve in the coming months.

While few advisers plan to add more staff to their team or work any harder, the majority expect to increase revenue, the number of clients they service and their business profitability.

Against a backdrop where business as usual is incredibly difficult and the entire industry remains in a state of flux, are advisers being overly optimistic?

In this masterclass we cover three areas where technology can help advisers become more efficient, helping them achieve their business objectives.

Click the button below to view the 1-hour recorded webinar now.

Presenters

This masterclass was presented by:

Wendy Van, Product Manager, Midwinter

With more than 15 years’ experience in financial services technology, Wendy is a keen problem solver who is focused on improving customer experiences and outcomes.

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Deborah Dalziel, Marketing Manager, Midwinter

Deborah is responsible for marketing and communications at Midwinter, and has more than 10 years’ experience marketing software and technology solutions.

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Matthew Bineth, Key Account Manager, Midwinter

Matthew is a passionate financial services professional who held roles in financial planning and practice management before moving into financial advice technology.

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The one-day event will be held in Melbourne on June 1 and Sydney on June 8 and will showcase the vast technological advancements that have occurred over the last 12 months. It is designed to help ‘uncover the threats and opportunities unique to advisers as they navigate the finance landscape and discover how they can actively support and educate their clients now and in generations to come.’

At Midwinter, we want to transform the way financial advice is delivered and consumed. Our sophisticated financial advice software supports this goal, providing new and better ways for advice practitioners to deliver advice and run their business.

Our team is looking forward to meeting advisers to discuss their thoughts on innovation in financial advice and how technology can better support their business and customers.

Click here to find out more about Midwinter’s involvement, and here to secure a spot.

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The Future Ready IX report provides comprehensive analysis of the Australian financial advice profession, including statistics to help advice businesses benchmark their performance against their peers, and insight to help them achieve their business goals.

As a provider of innovative financial advice technology, Midwinter has partnered with Business Health to offer this valuable insight to advice businesses who are looking for new ways to grow and improve the profitability of their business.

In this 1-hour session, hosted by Midwinter and presented by Business Health, the team will provide an overview of the report findings, what these mean for the financial advice profession and how practices can use these to improve their business.

About the report

The Business Health Future Ready IX report is part of a series of whitepapers produced since 2002. These reports provide comprehensive insight into the health of the Australian financial advice industry and its preparedness for the future.

The data and insight presented in this report was drawn from the detailed results of over 200 advice businesses that have taken the Business Health HealthCheck since the time the previous report was published in January 2020. This enables a truly multifaceted picture of today’s marketplace that is unique in the Australian advice community.

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The ifa Future Forum was an opportunity for financial advice professionals to come together to discuss accessibility and affordability of advice. Midwinter’s Chief Commercial Officer Steve Davison joined a panel of technology providers to discuss how technology can enable and support accessibility affordability of advice.

The Excellence Awards recognised 27 individuals and companies that are leading the way in the advice industry; with three of the awards presented by Midwinter. Congratulations to all of the finalists and winners!

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To be held over four months, AdviceTechTalks will look at four areas:

• Compliance
• Practice Management
• Value
• Client Engagement

Click here to find out more and register for Midwinter’s AdviceTechTalks.

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