Australia’s leading non-institutional licensee Synchron has announced the launch of two initiatives to help advisers facing reduced revenues as a result of the Life Insurance Framework (LIF).
“Following the release of LIF details, we recognize that no matter how many ways you slice and dice it, life insurance advisers will be suffering from July 1st on a progressive basis due to a reduction in income,” said Synchron Director, Don Trapnell. “For this reason, we recently launched SyncAdvsr, a new software package designed to reduce the amount of work advisers have to do to maintain their business. We also introduced a referral arrangement with AdvantEdge which allows Synchron advisers to refer finance broking to an AdvantEdge licensed adviser and be paid for that referral.”
Synchron has made a six-figure annual investment in SyncAdvsr, which automatically generates fee disclosure statements and opt-in notices and monitors the return of those notices. It also incorporates business analytic metrics which group commissions and/or fees received per adviser, per life company and per fund manager. Additionally, the SyncAdvsr software automatically calculates and produces commission and fee split statements for referral sources such as accountants, general insurance brokers and finance brokers.
Mr Trapnell said business efficiencies are now imperative in an environment in which advisers face losing revenue. “As such, we have made SyncAdvsr available to every Synchron advice business as part of the Synchron suite of services and we expect it to not only improve business efficiencies, but to also help advisers with client engagement and ongoing client relationships.”
The introduction of a referral arrangement with AdvantEdge will also help Synchron advisers address the revenue gap, according to Mr Trapnell.
“We know that at any point in time, one in seven consumers is reconsidering their mortgage and finance arrangements. We believe it is appropriate that Synchron advisers be afforded the opportunity to satisfy that need by referring clients on to a licensed finance broker and be remunerated for it,” Mr Trapnell said. “The arrangement with AdvantEdge will facilitate that.”
Mr Trapnell said the two initiatives, which were announced at Synchron’s recent professional development days nationwide are further proof of Synchron’s ongoing commitment to its advisers. “We support our advisers in extremely pragmatic ways,” he said. “For example, we understand that the lifeblood of small businesses is cash flow. To demonstrate our complete understanding of this principle, Synchron has always paid advisers daily. We also believe paying advisers daily is the right thing to do – because money earned by an adviser belongs to the adviser and should therefore be paid without delay.”
Daily payment is subject to having received a statement from the product institution that identifies the advisers to whom the fees and commissions belong.
“As a licensee we believe it is absolutely critical to help our advisers stay in business, so that they are here tomorrow and the day after and the day after that in order to continue to support and service their clients,” Mr Trapnell said.
