Feedback requested on the Code of Professional Conduct for Financial Advice Services

The Financial Advice Code Committee is seeking industry feedback on proposed amendments to the Code of Professional Conduct for Financial Advice Services.

The consultation outlines three proposed amendments to the Code:

• Formally recognise version 3 of the Level 5 Certificate, noting those who can demonstrate their competence, knowledge, and skill by reference to version 1 or version 2 of the Level 5 Certificate, or an equivalent qualification don’t need to update their qualification.

• Retain the Level 5 Certificate qualification outcomes as the minimum standard for investment planning competence and remove the interim status of Code Standard 7.

• Clarify the requirements for continuing professional development in CS9.

Code Committee Chair Angus Dale-Jones said

“The proposed amendments reinforce the importance of continuing professional development for financial advisers. That’s fundamental for the availability and quality of financial advice for all New Zealanders.”

Submissions are due by 5pm on Wednesday 14 August 2024. The committee will give an online presentation about the consultation on Thursday 4 July, you register here.

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Fidelity Life announce the recipients of its 2024 Career connect scholarships

Fidelity Life has announced the seven recipients of its 2024 Career connect scholarships. The adviser training scholarships, worth up to $5,000 each, are awarded to new-to-the-industry applicants from underrepresented groups in the financial services sector.

Pounamu scholarship – for an outstanding Māori applicant: Awhina Scott - Awhina is dedicated to improving the financial (and overall) wellbeing of Māori communities through better access to quality financial advice.

Kōwhai scholarship – for an exceptional Pasifika applicant: Jenny Silva - Jenny is passionate about empowering others to make informed financial decisions and contributing to the future financial stability of individuals and families within Pasifika communities.

Rural scholarship brought to you by FMG: Grace McIntyre - Coming from a rural community herself, Grace is passionate about raising awareness of the importance of advice and insurance in safeguarding rural livelihoods.

Women in Finance scholarship brought to you by Kaplan Professional: Anna Devereux - With a background in finance, Anna understands the need for people to receive advice from someone they trust. She looks forward to helping more New Zealanders achieve financial literacy and security.

Paua scholarship – for applicants who demonstrate excellence: Marna Breetzke - Marna is passionate about helping others and looks forward to being able to educate more New Zealanders on the importance of financial advice.

Toe Toe scholarship – for outstanding young applicants: Sydnee Taylor – Sydnee's background in the health and fitness industry ignited her passion for enhancing others' wellbeing and building strong relationships. She hopes to now leverage these skills to help others make informed financial decisions, resulting in financial wellbeing and security.

Rangi Po scholarship – for underrepresented identities in our industry: Taylah Marr – Passionate about supporting others, Taylah wants to help more New Zealanders get ahead financially and gain peace of mind over their financial futures.

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New Research Deep Dive Session introduced

Join Quotemonster’s research team as we meet up online and have a discussion on a research topic – our focus in this meeting is Comprehensive Trauma, other types of trauma will be discussed at a later time.  

In this session, we will explain our trauma rating, any changes that have been made to these products in the last quarter and some research reviews we have in progress. This is Q&A style and while we have prepared an agenda, the aim is for advisers to come along and ‘ask us anything’ about trauma, provide claims or general feedback on the topic.

Our goal is to focus on a specific research topic each time we meet, show advisers where they can find related infographics or resources that can then be shared to clients, and to have a sneak peek into the QPR database.

Prerequisites: This session is for advisers who already have a basic understanding of our research methodology and would like to deepen their knowledge, we highly recommend attending our Introduction to Quotemonster prior to joining our Research Deep Dive.    

If you would like to attend our first session scheduled on Thursday, 13 June 2024 11:30 am-12:30 pm, please email us info@quotemonster.co.nz and we will send you a calendar invite. Furthermore, if there is a topic you would like us to prioritise, please submit your request to the above mentioned email.

We look forward to seeing you there!

Unlock the Power of Business Insurance with Advicemonster

At Quotemonster, we understand the importance of comprehensive business insurance solutions. That's why we're excited to offer Advicemonster subscribers a powerful tool that enables them to quote and research Life, Trauma, TPD, and Key Person insurance.

Our platform is designed to simplify the insurance process, making it easier for you to provide advice to your clients. With Advicemonster, you can quickly access quotes, delve into detailed research, and perform a Business SOA, all in one convenient place.

We're committed to helping you make the most of our services. That's why we invite you to join us for our next online training session, where you'll learn how to maximise the benefits of our Business Insurance tool. Our staff will guide you through the platform's features, ensuring you have the knowledge and confidence to support your clients effectively.

We highly recommend joining us for our next online training session to learn more about the service, and as a thank you for attending we can provide a 14-day trial on your account when you email us on info@quotemonster.co.nz

Don't miss this chance to enhance your insurance offerings with Advicemonster. Register for our upcoming training session on Thursday, 11 April 2024 9:30 am-10:30 am and discover how our Business Insurance tool can empower you and your clients.

Fidelity Life and Kaplan Professional join together to deliver Career Connect training

Fidelity Life has partnered with Kaplan Professional to deliver their Career Connect financial adviser training programme. Kaplan Professional will join as the programme’s education provider, in conjunction with Massey University. Kaplan Professional will fund a new Women in Finance Scholarship, to join Fidelity Life’s existing six scholarships.  

Applications are open for Career Connect’s 2024 intake, with 30 places, including 7 scholarships, available. The programme runs from May until December 2024.

The scholarships available are:

• Women in Finance scholarship brought to you by Kaplan Professional, designed to assist female applicants to become financial advisers

• Rural scholarship brought to you by FMG, designed for applicants with a rural connection

• Pounamu scholarship, designed to assist Māori applicants

• Kōwhai scholarship, designed to assist Pasifika applicants

• Rāngi Po scholarship, designed to support underrepresented identities in our industry.

• Toe Toe scholarship, designed to recognise outstanding young applicants.

• Pāua scholarship, designed to recognise outstanding applicants who demonstrate excellence.

Kaplan Professional CEO Brian Knight said

“Programs like Career connect provide the ideal launchpad for a bright future in financial advice, so we are delighted to collaborate with Fidelity Life on what we believe is a terrific initiative to strengthen New Zealand’s talent pipeline.”

“We also remain steadfast in our commitment to encouraging and promoting diversity within the industry, so we are thrilled to be able to provide a scholarship for women in every intake of the program.”

There is a free online career evening on March 19 where those interested can find out more about becoming a financial adviser, what being a financial adviser is really like and how Career Connect can support you to gain the qualifications and skills necessary to become a successful financial adviser.

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AI and Machine Learning are driving benefits and reducing headcount in the insurance sector

A survey of insurers by Rackspace has found that the implementation of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) technologies are driving benefits and enabling the reduction of headcounts.

The survey found over the past 12 months 62% of insurers had cut staff numbers due to the implementation of AI and ML. They found that the new technology enabled low-level analyst work to be completed by AI and ML. 52% of respondents said they had already realised substantial benefits from AI/ML, with a further 23% seeing modest benefits. 25% of respondents said it was too early to tell.

The benefits insurers listed from implementing AI/ML were

• 81% risk reduction, increased understanding of business/customers

• 79% increased sales

• 77% personalised marketing

• 75% increased productivity

• 73% increased revenue streams, operation cost reduction

• 69% improved customer satisfaction

• 67% faster time to profitability, reduced cost of new product development, ability to hire/recruit new talent

• 65% increased innovation

There are still some issues with AI, with 42% only ‘slightly trusting’ AI/ML results compared to 28% ‘strongly trusting’ results.

Talent and skill shortages were seen by 67% as the greatest challenge to further adoption of the technology; however 90% of insurers had grown their AI and ML workforce in the past 12 months.

Although this survey lumps AI and ML together there are some fundamental differences. Machine learning can be disconnected from the large volumes of training data that are used in generative AI such as Chat GPT. Although that may sound like a disadvantage, narrower pools of training data can make results from machine learning applications much more accurate for highly specific tasks. It also means that data does not have to be shared with generative AI engines – its can remain in confidential silos within the business.

ChatGPT recently put forward it’s arguments for how it can positively impact the insurance industry. While there are still plenty of cons to using ChatGPT right now, ranging from inbuilt biases and prejudices to its failure to comprehend nuance such as sarcasm, some insurance executives believe the underlying technology could be used as a starting point to build on and to jumpstart innovations in the sector.

At Quality Product Research Limited we agree that there are some great opportunities for implementation of AI and ML initiatives. With more than 15 million quotes and over 1.25million data points of data in our research databases we are well positioned to employ these tools to greater effect over the coming years.

Demystifying Advicemonster [online training session]

Our first Advicemonster training session for 2024 has been scheduled!

Take your Statement of Advice (SOA) to the next level and join us on Wednesday, 17 January 2024 11:30 am-12:30 pm

In this session, we have an in-depth walk-through of our Statement of Advice service and how you can create a professional and comprehensive SOA. Be the first to learn about our recent enhancements and ongoing developments from our new AdviceTech Lead, Aneel Ravji. Our Needs analysis and SOA tools are exclusive to the Advicemonster subscription and due to the advanced nature of the product, training can take between 60-90 minutes. This session is great to attend for those considering upgrading their subscription, or if you have already upgraded but would like to learn how to get the most out of it.

If you would like to register, please send us an email on aneel.ravji@qpresearch.co.nz

We look forward to seeing you there! 

Quotemonster Online Training (with tips and tricks)

Our first introduction to Quotemonster training session for 2024 has been scheduled!

Get a head start on the year and join us on Tuesday, 16 January 2024 11:00 am-12:00 pm.

In this session, hosted by Kelly, our National Partnerships Lead, we go over the basics of using Quotemonster and how to make the most of your Researchmonster subscription along with:

• How to generate a premium comparison between insurers

• How to set up your Product and Provider Settings screen 

• How to directly compare two insurers for replacement business (Head-to-Head) 

• How to download our detailed comparison and client-friendly benefit overview or heat map report

• How to add banks and non-adviser companies to your Research comparison

• How to find legacy policy documents

If you would like to register for this session please send us an email on info@quotemonster.co.nz

We look forward to seeing you there!

We’re back!

We hope you had a lovely break and got to enjoy some sunshine and had a chance to relax. The Chatswood and QPR team are back in the office and looking forward to everything we have planned this year. Although we are keeping some great new developments under wraps, we can drop some hints:

·         People with an interest in data and statements of advice for KiwiSaver and Home Loans should drop us a line

·         How do you check if a plan you have put together is reasonable? Ask us to put you in the beta test group for Checkmonster

Things already live that you may want to check out again now you’re back:

1.       Research: you should check out the stand-alone head to head comparison with access to more than 50 legacy products now rated and more joining them every week

2.       If you aren’t using Advicemonster to make your production of SOAs better, quicker, and more robust, then we’ve added more reasons to help you make up your mind

3.       Want to make sure your compliance is in good shape? Maybe add a copy of our outsource provider statement and information security bulletins to your compliance file

Hit us up with any questions you have. And if you have any thoughts on training you would find useful, please let us know here or here.

Q&A with Karty Mayne from Rosewill Consulting

We had the pleasure of talking to Karty Mayne, Director and Compliance Consultant at Rosewill consulting.

What services does Rosewill Consulting provide?

Rosewill Consulting was set up with a mission to make compliance sexy! If we don’t think it is who will!

We provide Licensing and Compliance Services for financial services businesses. We also conduct independent audits and compliance reviews and provide specialist training. We have an online compliance and training system that has an extensive library of up-to-date professional development material.

What do you see as areas of focus in 2024?

Here are my top three…

1. Newly licensed entities, such as Financial Advice Providers, Head Groups and other types of licensees will need to have a strong focus on implementation. Being regulated requires creating a workplan and delivering on it. Initial policies and procedures may have design flaws or not be sufficiently robust so this is an important time to make those key adjustments.

2. On a wider scale, the world is facing ongoing increases in the nature and volume of cyber-attacks. Regulators such as the FMA have published a lot of guidance on this but from our experience regulated entities still need a lot of help in this area.

3. The pace of regulatory change hasn’t slowed up at all. 2024 will introduce new obligations such as additional AML/CFT Regulation, Conduct Licensing, Deposit Takers Act and the review of the Insurance contract law to name a few. Plus, the Coalition government will surely be adding to this list.

Can you tell us a little bit about yourself and why you decided to start up Rosewill Consulting?

I was initially sceptical about moving into a risk and compliance role. However, I quickly learnt the importance of the role and the value it can add across an organisation. My time as a Regulator was an apprenticeship into all aspects of issues within financial services and gave me a broad insight to the challenges of all businesses, large and small. When I left, I wanted to share back what I had learnt to help strengthen the industry and provide a plain English perspective on governance, risk and compliance. 

What area of compliance do you think Financial Advice Providers (FAPs) need the most help with? Do you see any changes to this with the new government coming in?

From our experience, most FAPs and their advisers still don’t really know the extent of their new regulatory obligations. I expect that the FMA will start to publish guidance to assist FAPs with implementation and help them mature their approach to complying with the regime. The Conduct Licensing is a great addition for New Zealand as it helps us lift our game for product providers and is great for consumers. Hopefully, the government has other priorities and lets the industry get on with meeting the fair conduct principles.

Could you tell us a bit about what your compliance and governance courses cover?

Over the last few years, we have been running course and coaching new Compliance Officers. Often the person has been thrown in the deep end and needs to have both the theoretical and practical understanding of their role. This year we added a focus on oversight and ran practical governance and compliance courses. The blend of running both together means that the business owners/directors can work through responsibilities with their compliance person and come with clear workplan for 2024.

What is one thing you wish someone had told you when you were younger?

To follow your passion and back yourself. I always knew that I wanted to run my own business and now wish I had got underway sooner. In saying that, I have loved every company I have worked for and each has taught me so much. It’s always the people around you who make the difference. 

What’s the last book you read?

I just finished “Resurrection Walk” by Michael Connelly. It is part of a series about the characters of the Lincoln Lawyer Mickey Haller and Detective Harry Bosch. These books are now series on Netflix and so I had a resurgence of interest in reading the latest books! Easy holiday reading!

 Disclosure: Quality Product Research Limited has used the services of Rosewill Consulting Limited and found them to be excellent.

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