Aware Super launches ‘super helpful’ adviser portal

Aware Super has announced the launch of its new adviser portal with the aim to make financial advice more readily available to Australians.

According to Aware, the portal has “transformed” the way independent financial advisers interact with the fund, setting a “new standard for profit-to-member funds” in providing seamless functionality and ease of use.

The digital suite can be used for a wide range of processes, including changing investment options, managing contributions, and carrying out other transactions on behalf of clients who are among Aware Super’s 1.1 million members.

The fund’s head of business development, Natalie Jarvis, said the launch is essentially redefining the way advisers work with profit-to-member funds.

“This has changed the proposition for IFAs (independent financial adviser), simplifying transactions, communications processes, and other tasks and putting invaluable information at their fingertips to help them provide that outstanding service,” Ms Jarvis said.

“IFAs play such a critical role in the advice ecosystem, so we’re delighted to have rolled out the portal to support them and help with the crucial service they provide. The portal is testament to our commitment to support IFAs for the long term.”

Among the other functions available through the new portal, advisers will also be able to view their client dashboards, track actions requested on behalf of clients, request a withdrawal benefit quote, and view clients’ Centrelink payment schedules.

Ms Jarvis explained that this is just “scratching the surface”, promising that access to more functions will follow.

“Advisers will soon be able to use the portal to set up new accounts for clients, enabling them to be digital first and less reliant on call centres. Of course, for those who want extra help, Aware Super has a dedicated business development team and call centre support team specifically for registered IFAs,” she said.

Ms Jarvis also highlighted the period of significant regulatory change the advice industry has undergone amid stronger than ever demand.

“Given these dynamics, there’s a critical need for financial advice to be more readily available in Australia.

“We see time and again how the right advice at the right time has a life-changing effect on our members, and we’re doing everything in our power to ensure that advice is as accessible as it can be, and to support those who provide it.”

As such, she said Aware Super prides itself on being “super helpful” to not only its members, but also advisers.

“The new adviser portal is a wonderful example of how we’re being just that.”

New fund on the block

The Quality of Advice Review (QAR) has signalled the possibility of super funds expanding their role in advice, with Financial Services Minister Stephen Jones due to shortly announce whether this will, in fact, be the case.

However, the minister has strongly signalled that he expects funds to be able to offer their members advice related to their super.

While Aware Super has rolled out its portal tailored specifically for advisers, Australian Retirement Trust (ART) earlier this year announced its intention to target consumers. Namely, the fund said it plans to launch an advice offering for its members.

First announced in March, ART said it did not plan to position itself in the comprehensive advice market, instead its goal is to play a key role in the democratisation of advice.

“Superannuation has had traditionally a very paternalistic approach to advice. You can only come to us and it’s comprehensive advice and we think actually, the way of the future, with that spirit of democratisation is we just give them [consumers] options, so they can consume it how they want to consume it,” Anne Fuchs, the fund’s head of advice, told ifa at the time.

She added at the time that ART acknowledges the significance of advisers and intends to incorporate the services of real advisers into its platform offering. In March, ART had 60 advisers providing simple advice to members over the phone.

ART’s progress on the platform is still unknown.

As for whether its peers intend to embrace Minister Jones’ possible inclusion of funds in advice, the chief executive officer of the Financial Advice Association Australia (FAAA), Sarah Abood, told ifa recently that super funds are at odds, with some opposed to the idea.