Bendigo Wealth has formed a partnership with Provisio Technologies under which the software firm will help Bendigo form a scaled advice offering.
Head of Wealth Markets at Bendigo Wealth Alexandra Tullio said the service will initially start off with five financial advisers, but the bank would be looking to grow that quickly, and it may also be used by other advisers in the field.
Bendigo Wealth currently has more than 500 branches and growing, with around 60 to 70 financial advisers in the advice network.
Bendigo Wealth will continue to use XPLAN for its full advice services, she added.
While the bank is currently set up for providing complex financial advice, there is a demand there for a simpler and cheaper advice model, as evidenced by the rapid take-up of Bendigo and Adelaide Bank’s new low cost Super offering, SmartStart Super.
"We’re making it easier for people to apply and speak with a consultant," she said.
The new offering addressees Future of Financial Advice (FOFA) changes, which have forced the industry to rethink how it services the tail end of its business addresses key FOFA issues such as accessibility, Bendigo stated.
Typically, the younger generations coming through are coming into branches less and will also typically not be looking for hour long phone consultations – meaning a 15 to 20 minute simpler advice scenario would better suit their needs, Tullio said.
Under the arrangement, Bendigo Wealth will use Provisio’s underlying technology to create the document that is given to the customer, accessing Bendigo’s full range of financial advice templates so the service is Bendigo-centric, and brings it all together in a merged document in around 20 minutes.
The service is aimed at the type of consumers who typically say they want financial advice but don’t want to pay $3,000 for a statement of advice, and those who are more interested in "piece by piece" advice rather than full holistic advice, Tullio said.
"Financial advice can now be provided in just 20 minutes, compared with the traditional model which can take days.
"This technology gives Bendigo Wealth the ability to offer advice on a larger scale at a time when branch-based planners are restricted in the number of clients they can physically see," she said.
For financial planners the new arrangement will mean they are better able to service existing clients in a market that has significant margin squeeze and will be able to continue to service "C and D" clients while also providing cross selling opportunity to advisers, according to Bendigo.
