The Financial Services Council has announced the new Future Ready advice summit in Queenstown. Come along and join us at the summit and learn about – if you do, we will see you there. More from the FSC:

“Join us at the Future Ready Advice Summit on 14 June 2022 in beautiful Queenstown at the Heritage Hotel. This Summit follows the successful online event in February this year, and gives us a much-needed opportunity to reconnect and learn, while supporting Kiwi tourism.

By attending, you will:

• Hear directly from our regulatory partners and key decision makers
• Get the latest advice on thriving under a financial advice provider license
• Hear from experts and focus on the future and developing professional advice practices
• Join our Advice Masterclass focused on future-proofing the business model of the future
• Network with peers and hear from industry leaders
• Speak to suppliers for practical help and support through the changes
• Contribute towards your Code Standard 9 competence requirements 

Both streaming and in-person tickets are now available for purchase. In-person numbers are limited, so we encourage you to register quickly to avoid disappointment.”

More daily news:

Partners Life announces new adviser training course 20-22 June

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Financial Advice New Zealand regional roadshow

We only have a limited number of sessions before we’re closed for the Christmas holidays so why not finish off the year with a bang by joining one of our upcoming demonstrations:

Quotemonster Basic (Introductory session - great for new users or for a refresher)

• Thursday, 25 November 2021 11:00 am-12:00 pm
• Thursday, 16 December 2021 11:00 am-12:00 pm

Quotemonster Deep Dive (great for advanced users who use Quotes and Research on a regular basis) 

• Thursday, 9 December 2021 11:00 am-12:00 pm

Advicemonster (great for those who would like to learn more about our Statement of Advice (SOA) subscription) 

• Thursday, 2 December 2021 11:00 am-12:00 pm

Please feel free to email us on info@quotemonster.co.nz with the session you'd like to attend and we will organise to send through the zoom link.

We hear a lot about how hard covid-19 control measures - especially those that restrict people to just home, or 'lockdowns' - are on mental health. Clearly, for some people, they are catastrophic: someone in a deteriorating relationship with a violent partner would clearly be devastated by a  stay-at-home order. While we have had some interim announcements on the subject here, which were reassuring, we haven't had much data to go on, until now. A recent study on suicide rates in England and Wales during the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic helps to fill that gap.

The study was based on official death registrations from April to July 2020. It was found that there were fewer suicides than the previous year with 1,603 suicides on record, compared to 1,955 suicides in 2019. The study found the 2020 suicide rates were lower than the 5-year average (2015 to 2019 April to July period)  of 1,835 suicides. The study also revealed that men made up 73.9% of the recorded 1,603 suicide deaths between April and July 2020. The study has credited the lower suicide rate between April and July 2020 to a reduction in suicide during April 2020. That is encouraging news, it means we cannot automatically assume that stay-at-home orders will result in more suicides. On the other hand the UK plainly has a much better track record in dealing with mental health challenges that we have (compare suicide rates per 100,000 of population for evidence). Click here to read more

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mySolutions are set to run full FAP application sessions in the coming months in Auckland, Hamilton, Wellington, and Christchurch. Those living in other cities have the opportunity to attend a session in their city as long as there are a minimum of eight attendees. Those wishing to attend sessions should email their interest to shelly@mysolutions.nz

Prices

mySolution members: $2,500 per FAP

Non-members: $2,850 per FAP

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Wealthpoint has introduced the launch of the standalone General Insurance brokerage. Wealthpoint CEO Simon Manning has said that Wealthpoint General Insurance was formed to support advisers expand general insurance services as well as expanding supplier members with a focus on growing commercial, property and liability business lines. Wealthpoint General Insurance is based on the longstanding relationship with Vero and AMP General as well as new arrangements with Delta and Star Insurance. Manning has said that the dealer group has been considering this for a while as general insurance has always been a significant part of business for members. Creating a standalone brokerage means that Wealthpoint can form a working relationship with larger insurers under the IAG brand. Wealthpoint has partnered with Steadfast to form the new brokerage.

“The dealer group, formed from the former AMP advisers association, launched Wealthpoint General Insurance, a standalone brokerage for its 50 member businesses to transact through.

Wealthpoint chief executive, Simon Manning, said Wealthpoint General Insurance had been formed primarily to support member businesses to expand their general insurance offering to clients.

He said Wealthpoint was keen to expand the range of suppliers members could deal with, particularly for commercial, property and liability business lines.

Successful long-term relationships with AMP General and Vero Insurance were still in place and new supplier arrangements with specialist insurers such as Delta and Star Insurance were introduced for Wealthpoint members in the past year.

But, Manning said Wealthpoint was conscious that access to some of the larger insurers, including those operating under IAG brands, was only possible if structured through a standalone brokerage.

"General insurance has always been a pretty big part of our members' businesses and it's been something we have been thinking about for a long time," Manning said.

"There are a few unknowns about how much it will be used as it is only an option for our businesses who want to expand their GI operations or look to bring in more expertise."

Manning said uptake had been encouraging since they began offering its expanded services at the start of this month and "if we overshoot on our expectations then we will have to look for some more people pretty quickly".

"At the moment we are a small staff and are monitoring things closely but the phones have been ringing, so it's pretty encouraging."

He said while some Wealthpoint member businesses had explored the option of setting up their own brokerages, there were significant barriers such as high setup costs, lack of scale at member level and potential regulatory risks.

He said with that in mind Wealthpoint had joined forces with Auckland-based brokers Steadfast.

"They have been extremely helpful, they are very professional and have arrangements with virtually all of the market so that's helped us form alliances with all of the providers we want to.

"They have given us a really good tech platform as well.

"Now it's up to us working through the list of insurers and working with them to bring them onstream. Getting agreements in place will take time and we are being quite methodical working through that." Click here to read more

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Partners Life has announced a 10% price increase to the Private Medical Cover and the Specialists and Tests option. The new rate will come into effect from 12 April 2021. From 29 March, advisers will be able to quote using the current or new rates on the Quote System. New rates will apply to new customers while the new rates will apply to existing customers on their next policy anniversaries on or after 12 April 2021. Exact changes in price will vary depending on age related premium changes, inflation adjustments, underlying premium rate and policy fee increases, benefit expiry premium reductions, and loyalty discount changes.

“In order to continue to offer top ranked products to you and your clients we have to regularly review our premium pricing structures. Product innovation is something we take extremely seriously and as such we spend considerable time in balancing a first-class product offering with a competitive pricing structure. The time has now come to apply a premium increase to Private Medical Cover and the Specialists and Tests option.

Having completed a routine review of emerging claims experience and considering medical inflation, we have determined that an underlying premium rate increase of 10% will take effect from 12 April 2021.

From 29 March the Quote System will allow you the option to either quote using the existing rates or the new rates (it will default to the new rates).

From 5 April the Quote System will automatically use the new rates.

These premium increases will take effect on next policy anniversaries on or after 12 April 2021. Clients will receive their anniversary letter which will advise them of the new premiums payable from their anniversary date.

The total change in premium payable from the previous year is calculated based on age related premium changes, inflation adjustments to benefits and therefore premiums, underlying premium rate and policy fee increases, benefit expiry premium reductions, and loyalty discount changes.”

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Actuaries Institute Australia: Under the Spotlight – Ricky Au

FMA: Unlicensed advisers need a contingency plan: FMA

Fidelity Life: Fidelity Life - My Story - David & Cheri Flight with intro from Carl Drummond

We are pleased to announce that Treena Jordan has been appointed General Manager of the team at Quality Product Research Limited. Treena has an extensive background in product development and is extremely adviser focused. Over the last 20+ years Treena has worked for AIA, Sovereign, and Cigna as well as life insurers in both Australia and New Zealand.

Due to the increasing scrutiny with the new regime ahead we believe it is essential to grow our resources. Having Treena on board now means that we will have two full time product experts in the team. Treena has substantial experience working with advisers and is a very industry-focused person. Her involvement working with advisers around business insurance will be extremely valuable. Those of you that have worked with Treena in the design of business insurance products will be aware of her passion for good insurance cover.

As part of the change in team you can expect to hear more from Doreen and Treena  as they are keen to hear from you about your experiences with our product providers and how you use Quotemonster, Research Reports, and Advicemonster.

An adviser business has put up for sale a lead generation website. A lead generation website is offered for sale as the adviser running the site wishes to focus on their own region, not on serving clients nationally or running a referral business. This is a great opportunity for a national business with the skills to serve the self-employed market. Twenty leads a week are typical from the site. Handover support is offered so you can continue to get the best out of the opportunity. Contact me or my team for further information. 

Susan Edmunds, reporting at Stuff.co.nz, tells us of a client that was surprised by the extent of the fee a mortgage broker charged when they refinanced their loan early. They complained about it to FSCL, here is the essence of their decision: 

FSCL said the adviser was entitled to a fee but the terms of engagement were too vague to be enforceable. “The clause did not set out how much the clawback fee could be, or how the fee would be calculated. It simply said that, if the client fully repaid their loan within 24 months, the adviser would be entitled to charge an early repayment fee. For all [the client] knew, it could be a $25 fee, as opposed to $2500.” 

Faced with that, the adviser agreed to waive the fee. That's the problem with a vague disclosure - a few examples could have made this really clear. Glen McLeod makes a robust defence of the right to charge such a fee - which I broadly agree with - I just think it should be really clear to a client what the fee will amount to. In the absence of good disclosure, the dispute resolution bodies will rule in the client's favour. I quite like the approach outlined by Bruce Patten, of LoanMarket, in the article. I believe that would stand up to a test such as this complaint. 

It was announced that Kepa’s mortgage business will merge with NZFSG. The takeover will see Kepa members being integrated into the NZFSG-Loan Market dealer network. Members offering general insurance advice will remain in Kepa. Kepa advisers will have the option of moving to NZFSG's MyCRM system and Kepa employees will be transferring.

“The nation's biggest broker group, NZFSG has effectively completed a takeover deal. Kepa's mortgage business will become part of its larger rival, marking the latest phase in industry consolidation.

The two groups have been in talks for several months, TMM Online understands.

Kepa’s members will be integrated within the NZFSG-Loan Market dealer network. Kepa advisers will be given the option to move onto NZFSG's MyCRM system, while Kepa’s staff will transfer to the merged business.

Both Kepa and NZFSG have said the merge will assist in better navigating the new regime and would create a national dealer group with over 1,600 members.

“Both parties believe the additional scale will help under the new financial advisers' regulatory regime, which will place greater demands on groups acting as Financial Advice Providers for their members. 

In a statement, the two groups said the deal would create a national dealer business with more than 1,600 members, settling more than $17 billion of mortgages and issuing $30 million of life insurance premiums each year.”

Congratulations to NZFSG-Loan Market and Kepa, on the successful conclusion of this deal. These take an enormous amount of work sustained over a considerable period of time. We wish them all the best in working through the coming year - which is shaping up to be a very busy one for everyone involved in the provision of financial advice due to the implementation of the new regime. 

Click here to read more

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