New Financial Services Partners CEO sets growth plans for the firm

New Financial Services Partners (FSP) chief executive officer Charles Smith has set the pace for the firm for 2012, touting business protection and growth, new dealer group terms and financial advisers recruitment as key strategic initiatives going forward.

Appointed CEO in early December, Smith said the current project work will attempt to improve productivity and ensure financial advisers have the right systems and processes in place to continue providing quality services after the draft Future of Financial Advice (FOFA) reforms are set to come into effect.

The initiatives include enrolling financial advisers in OnePath's 'Valuing Advice for Growth' workshop, which FSP stated would give advisers training in the process of transitioning their practices to a fee-for-service model.

The workshop itself covers such key areas as client value propositions, service offers and pricing.

The other enhancement to the business is the 'Client Directed Experience' program, which is designed to help financial advisers enhance client engagement by providing advisers with sales scripts and structured business processes.

This includes providing financial advisers with the skills to create a practical fee-for-advice model and a client discovery process that allows advisers to demonstrate the value of their advice, FSP stated.

Smith said the introduction of the workshops has made the thought process behind implementing a fee-for-service model much clearer for FSP's financial advisers.

"We believe advisers who have strong client relationships and a clear advice value proposition will ultimately be the winners in a post-FOFA world," he said.

As well as preparing its financial advisers for industry change, FSP has also developed new dealer group terms which will be launched at the company's conference in late February.

The more competitive terms and an updated value proposition will provide FSP financial advisers with a significant recruitment advantage in 2012, Smith said.

"We expect recent investment in research, lead development and the XPLAN evolution will be positive for new adviser and practice recruitment, attracting firms from groups which haven't offered advisers FOFA readiness support or full dealer services," he added.