The scope for New Zealand advisers to focus more on client relationships, while improving services and increasing business efficiency, has taken a major step forward with the unveiling of a new technological initiative for the industry.
The initiative is the work of Finzo – an integrated financial solutions provider for advisers, brokers, family offices and asset consultants – and Iress, a technology company which provides software to the financial services industry.
Finzo & Iress announced that they have established a data feed, the first-of-its-kind in the New Zealand market, from the Finzo Platform to Xplan – Iress’ financial planning and wealth management software.
Using the data feed between Finzo Platform – a bespoke investment platform powered by FNZ – and Xplan, advisers can accurately and efficiently update client portfolios with daily transactions.
The technological innovation is a timely one, coming as the regulation around financial advice tightens with FMA implementing a new financial advice licensing and compliance regime which requires advice firms to streamline their processes and demonstrate operational capability.
“For advisers, we want to take away all the distractions like CRM, compliance, and cyber/data security and in return provide a ‘business in a box’ solution that allows them to focus more on advice and client interaction,” Finzo CEO Nick Stewart says.
“The technology is not an end in itself. It is about advisers being able to both deliver better client outcomes and grow their businesses at a faster rate.”
Nick describes the new feature – available only to Finzo clients who use both the platform and CRM solutions – as a milestone project in delivering secure, fast and efficient transactional data between the platform and Xplan.
“This enhances reporting functionality beyond basic custodial standards while freeing up advisers to spend time on what is most important – building client relationships, increasing efficiency and expanding their businesses,” Nick says.
“It means advisers can now generate bespoke reports out of Xplan across the multiple channels of advice, while the creation of client review packs with live portfolio and client data is now just a click away.”
The data feed also provides access to Iress’ portfolio module in Xplan, which offers a complete client-centric solution for advisers to construct, review, analyse and maintain simple or sophisticated investment portfolios.
Iress’ GM - Wealth, New Zealand, Andrew Logan, says the collaborative approach between Finzo, FNZ and Iress provides Finzo advisers with an integrated solution and will make it easier for advisers to ensure their client data is accurate and up to date.
“Iress has a rich history of third-party integrations and we’re pleased to partner with Finzo on this initiative. It provides advisers with a single source of truth for data, while streamlining the end-to-end client engagement cycle from on boarding, risk profiling, investment modelling and portfolio construction, to portfolio management, reporting and monitoring,” Andrew says.
With more technology updates on track, Finzo aims to become a Financial Advice Provider (FAP) providing two options – clients can run their business under its FAP or use its services for their own FAP requirements.
Finzo also offers a personalised client portal for investors, who work with Finzo client advisers, to view their entire wealth, including their portfolio held on Finzo Platform, non-custody assets, risk insurance and KiwiSaver.
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