Thus affirming its commitment to independent financial advice. The move is further evidence of growing industry confidence in a strong IFA sector post-depolarisation, following the recent additions of London Mortgage Company, GMAC and Mortgage Express to IFAP’s list of sponsors.
Paul Holland, Managing Director of Webline, commented: “We’re delighted to cement our support for the IFA community, now and into the future, by becoming IFA Promotion’s first technology sponsor. We particularly support IFAP’s efforts to encourage member firms to improve their own websites, since four out of five people turn to the web to find an IFA. We were the first portal to provide financial advisers with the facility to host online comparative quotations and e-submissions within their own websites and over the past few years we have provided over 30 million quotations to adviser firms.”
David Elms, Chief Executive of IFA Promotion, said, “We view this sponsorship as a great fit with IFAP’s activity. Webline is striving to make end-to-end processing a reality, and IFAP is at the front-end of this process, putting hundreds of thousands of potential new clients in touch online with IFAs every year. Whilst Webline is helping IFAs to develop their web offerings, IFAP is encouraging IFAs to promote their sites fully through the 45-plus online searches IFAP’s established on partner financial websites.”
In the first half of 2004 more than 1,000 new intermediary users signed up to the Webline platform, giving a total of over 11,000 users, 7,300 firms and 27 adviser networks now active registered users. 16 product providers are live on the Webline platform, providing online quotes for 13 term assurance and critical illness providers, 7 investment bond providers, 4 income protection providers and a specialist medical insurer.
