It also increases the number of its head office staff
Access Financial Services (Access FS) has grown broker numbers by 80% so far this year, the mortgage and protection broker announced earlier this week during its second annual conference.
The five-year-old firm said its number of self-employed mortgage and protection advisers has risen from 100 earlier in the year to 180 now.
Access FS has also doubled the number of its head office staff and brought in administrative support for its advisers.
During the conference, the company also announced the launch of a new compliance hotline, alongside its ongoing compliance training, to help advisers understand how to ensure both their mortgage and protection cases are not only compliant but of the highest quality as well.
After the launch of its administrative support for advisers, Access will follow this up by providing paraplanning services in the new year.
Read more: Access FS adds more protection providers to panel.
“The number of advisers wanting to join Access this year has exceeded our wildest expectations,” Karl Wilkinson (pictured), chief executive at Access Financial Services, commented. “What is better, it is our existing advisers who have been responsible for this growth.
“Our advisers tend to work heavily in their local communities. We have a very collaborative culture throughout Access where our advisers are encouraged to help each other and pass business to one another so they can focus on their individual strengths. This works so well that they then encourage other advisers to join Access to benefit from this unique support system.”
Wilkinson added that Access FS launched a regular academy this year to train and bring in people from outside the industry. The academy has been responsible for 38 new people becoming Access FS advisers running their own businesses.
Read more: Access FS announces start of next academy.
“The thing I am most proud of, however, is the number of advisers we have selling protection business, with no lapses at all,” Wilkinson said. “The need for people to keep their protection policies in place is of paramount importance as we head into a downturn, yet it is often the first thing to be cancelled as people look to save money.
“The fact that so many of our advisers have not had a single lapse is testament to how well the policies are being advised upon, with Access advisers ensuring their clients truly have the right product for their circumstances and genuinely understand their need for what they are buying.
“Next year we look forward to continuing our growth, while all the time increasing the value that we bring to the fantastic advisers that make Access FS what it is.”
