Founder states plans going forward
New aggregator group Kiwi Adviser Network (KAN), which seeks financial advisers interested in taking their financial adviser provider (FAP) license, has announced that it has finally hit its 100-adviser mark.
Founded by Chuck Slogrove, the founder of CRM provider Trail, KAN believes it will attract more brokers who want control over their regulatory licence.
“At KAN, we have found that financial advice businesses are usually better off operating under their own FAP licences as this reflects their operating model well and is easy for their clients to understand. About 80% of our member businesses are set up as licensed FAPs,” Slogrove told TMM Online.
Advisers can also work under the KAN FAP permanently or short-term while the group helps them through the application process of owning a full FAP license.
“This flexibility ensures they end up licensed in a manner that's right for their business,” Slogrove said.
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KAN has updated its CRM this year, improving disclosure processes for mortgage and personal risk advice, and additional compliance functionality. As a result, the group believes that its CRM has become attractive to advisers for saving their time.
“The one thing experienced financial advisers all have in common is that they're really busy,” Slogrove said, as reported by TMM Online. “There are so many distractions pulling them away from what's really important. Spending less time on admin and having more time for the things that are important to them is the real drawcard.”
KAN claims that its compliance offering can help it pull more members from large groups, especially as it aims to use training, compliance resources, arm's-length monitoring, and effective feedback as key tools under the new regime.
“In order for FAPs to stay on the right side of the track, they're going to need to have a strong compliance assurance programme,” Slogrove said. “Every single FAP and financial adviser who joins our business goes through a thorough due diligence process, which identifies gaps for improvement.
“They'll then work with our compliance team to close these gaps. Once on-board, all of our advisers fall under our compliance assurance plan and have access to holistic support, regardless of their licensing structure.”
