Finsure plans an aggressive pitch for NZ mortgage advisers in 2024
Australian aggregator Finsure will be making an aggressive pitch for New Zealand mortgage brokers to join it in the new year, says head of its NZ operations Jenny Campbell.
Monday, December 18th 2023, 6:00AM 
7 Comments
by Jenny Ruth
Campbell joined Finsure in July and says the company has been working to get its customer relationship management (CRM) software adapted to suit NZ conditions and practices.
The CRM is “a critical part” of the aggregator's offering and so it was important to take the time to get it right, she says.
“We own it and it was developed in-house in Sydney. It's being updated constantly with new features” as well as the updates from lenders on interest rates and other such information.
“It took quite a lot of work to make it appropriate for the NZ advice process,” Campbell says.
She says she's probably tried every CRM offering in the NZ market over the years.
“I can, hands-on-heart, say it's the best one I've seen.” Not only is it easy to use - “just follow your nose” - but it covers all local compliance requirements, provides mortgage-specific training modules and can handle just about every configuration of brokerage businesses.
So, now she's busy talking to local advisers about what Finsure has to offer them.
In Australia, Finsure is growing “at a phenomenal rate” with it now having passed 3,000 members, up from about 2,800 when Campbell joined, and the trajectory for 2024 is looking very positive, she says.
The Mortgage Mag's survey of brokers suggest a very high retention rate for the aggregators in the NZ market through 2023 with only 8.3% saying they had changed groups during the year, down from 10.5% the previous year and more than 15% in 2021.
Campbell says she thinks that's more reflective of the lack of options in our market and that she hopes to bring more competition to the local market.
“The environment is definitely changing. I think next year we're going to see an awful lot of movement between groups,” she says.
“The thing about competition is it brings about better results for the client.”
Campbell observes that a lot of advisers “got sold a sausage” when the Financial Advice Provider (FAP) regime came into force and thought they should become FAPs themselves.
“But really it doesn't add a lot of value to your business” and the costs of maintaining that status can be onerous, she says.
NZ is likely to follow the Australian pattern which has seen many advisers opting to operate from their aggregator's FAP, rather than trying to maintain their own.
But Finsure is happy to support both FAPs and brokers wishing to come under Finsure's FAP licence, she says.
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I think it was a huge disappoint to see her exit when she did and I think a lot advisers felt let down by The Mortgage supply companies sudden departure from the aggregation space leaving advisers to scramble to find another group in small space of time as (we all know) mortgage advisers are forced to belong to aggregation groups ( aggregation groups do not actually exist anymore , they are called master FAP”S) to be able to deal with banks.
How do we know Jenny won’t do this again?
A new master FAP entering the NZ market in my opinion must have:
1. Low-cost model membership fee.
2. Flexible PI cover group scheme to fit the different types of advisers not a one size fits all over insured product that a group profit from.
3. To not have a competing self-owned brand that competes directly with its non-branded members.
4. A CRM that’s not owned by a real-estate company in Australia.
5. A group CRM where client data is not kept and sold or given to other members if a member leaves.
6. Be able to negotiate better bank commissions rather than negotiate lower commissions to let previous non friendly banks back into the industry and then have other banks instantly follow.
7. Provide compliance training that’s aligned to the individual members FAP license not Just the groups own master FAP license.
Xmas is coming
Jenny has simply just changed her game plan to capitalise on the stupidity of the legislation.
We have no one real advocate for us - all the aggregation groups are after their own slice of the (commission) pie. The new legislation has simply conjured up a new Compliance industry. Rather than taking on new business, all they need to do is take on new advisers and a percentage of their income.
And the banks and legislation has done NOTHING to help. The necessity of a FAP has done NOTHING to help our clients, but is simply another revenue gathering ploy.
Amused, and Valkyrie6 - you are both 100% correct.
I still think some adviser businesses should have their own FAP, but I am still to be convinced that it has a huge benefit for a straightforward advisory business.
However, it is great that advisers have a choice now to either lean into their own compliance framework and structure, or to join an existing FAP.
Valkyrie - Firstly thank you for your kind comments. I am happy to confirm the following, and can assure you that I am planning on being around for a long time to come!
1. Finsure offer a flexible fee offering - with additional services that advisers can pick and choose to fit their own unique requirements. It is an extremely fair price structure for what I wholeheartedly believe is a high value proposition.
2. We do not prescribe your PI Cover supplier - you are free to source your own, as long as it is a suitable policy. We can assist in recommending some options - without clipping the ticket.
3. Finsure has no public facing advisers or branding. We are a 'behind the scenes' adviser support business.
4. Our CRM is owned by us and developed and managed in-house.
5. We guarantee your ownership of all data, and cannot ever market or sell your data. We also don't charge members for us to import or export their own data.
6. I would love to be able to negotiate for great outcomes for all advisers in NZ. Perhaps if we were more united as an industry, we could all work towards this.
7. Our compliance and training framework is the best I have ever seen. Our framework will help and support all members - including those in their own FAP. We want to help all advisers run efficient, compliant businesses that offer great advice outcomes - a rising tide raises all boats!
Lastly - Merry Christmas/HNY to all our adviser community - I think next year is going to be an absolute cracker for our entire profession. Stay safe on the roads, and enjoy a break with friends and whanau!
Jenny has simply just changed her game plan to capitalise on the stupidity of the legislation.
We have no one real advocate for us - all the aggregation groups are after their own slice of the (commission) pie. The new legislation has simply conjured up a new Compliance industry. Rather than taking on new business, all they need to do is take on new advisers and a percentage of their income.
And the banks and legislation has done NOTHING to help. The necessity of a FAP has done NOTHING to help our clients, but is simply another revenue gathering ploy.
Amused, and Valkyrie6 - you are both 100% correct.
As you point out correctly legislation that was supposed to benefit the consumer has instead been twisted for the financial gain of others. Much of the regulatory changes introduced to the industry over the past 2 years seem to have more to do with box ticking than achieving any benefit whatsoever to consumers. Regulation appears to have benefited Wellington bureaucrats, education and compliance businesses and finally the aggregators themselves a lot more than it has the actual consumer. If anyone thinks licensing's biggest beneficary has been the consumer then respectfully they have their head in the sand.
Beyond having accreditation with the main banks, I'm not sure what value aggregators are really providing now to those mortgage advisers who hold their own FAP licence. Jenny's reply above to Valkyrie's 7 key points does nothing sorry to demonstrate anything radically different to what is already on offer. Any mortgage adviser who backed themselves to run and operate his/her own FAP licence did so with a view to eventully have a direct relationship with the banks without any aggregator involvement. Jenny says she is still to be convinced that not been under an aggregator's FAP licence has a huge benefit for a straightforward advisory business - well the huge benefit Jenny is we won't eventually need to pay an aggregator money just for the privilege of being able to submit a mortgage application to one of the banks for our clients. Insurance advisers have been able to deal directly with the insurers for years now so with the arrival of licensing it's just a matter of time before the banks also elect to have direct relationships with mortgage advisers whom they trust. The main banks have previously communicated that they would deal with anyone who was licenced to provide advice by the FMA but most of the aggregators "elected" not to communicate this important news to their members.
The aggregator model may still hold relevance to mortgage advisers new to the industry, but experienced operators providing advice under own FAP licence are likely wondering what it is that aggregators still do for us now aside from passing along our commission once a week.
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“But really it doesn't add a lot of value to your business” and the costs of maintaining that status can be onerous, she says.”
“NZ is likely to follow the Australian pattern which has seen many advisers opting to operate from their aggregator's FAP, rather than trying to maintain their own.”
The above statement from Australian aggregator Finsure’s head of its NZ operations is the complete opposite of what she was saying when she was previously chief executive of The Mortgage Supply Company prior to aggregator Astute Financial acquiring them. Many mortgage advisers at the time elected to join the mortgage supply company because Jenny was so passionate about advisers having and operating their own FAP licence as opposed to us working under an aggregator’s. Fast forward to 2023 and Jenny has now changed her tune completely.
If Finsure are thinking mortgage advisers in New Zealand who have their own FAP licence will now have “second thoughts” like Jenny they are sorely mistaken. Mortgage advisers who backed themselves to run and operate their own FAP licence recognised some time ago that aggregators don’t demonstrate significant value to us anymore with the industry now licenced. Many of us within the industry have been providing advice to our clients for over 20+ years and working under an aggregator’s FAP Licence is just not something we see as adding value to our business. Gone are the days of aggregators been the single source of PI insurance and anybody can now purchase a fit for purpose CRM right off the internet which is ISO security compliant and has the added benefit of not being controlled by the aggregator themselves. From a “risk” perspective there is also statically far less likelihood of a complaint happening for a 1–10-person mortgage advisory business holding its own FAP licence than this business been an authorised body among many others working under an aggregator’s licence.