In Partnership with
Helping advisers navigate change
With advisers facing economic and regulatory challenges, aggregators provide essential support and advanced tools to help them succeed and better serve their clients
Jenny Campbell
Finsure
Industry experts
Sarah Johnston
Kiwi Adviser Network
Josh Bronkhorst
Link Financial Group
Sanjeev Jangra
Loan Market
Heading up the New Zealand arm of Finsure, one of Australasia’s largest mortgage adviser aggregators, Jenny Campbell is a familiar face to many within the NZ lending community. Having previously run the peak professional bodies in the financial adviser space, as well as a large, branded mortgage broker group, she brings a wealth of experience to Finsure. Campbell is a relentless cheerleader for advisers and a champion of the power of ‘great advice’.
Finsure
Jenny Campbell
Sarah Johnston is the general manager of leading New Zealand mortgage aggregator Kiwi Adviser Network (KAN). A highly experienced senior executive in the mortgage and finance industry, she has worked in various BDM, management and sales support roles for almost 30 years. Johnson has been focused on the broker space since 2000, when she helped set up the Westpac Broker Channel before moving into a new role in 2004 to assist mortgage advisers in growing their businesses. As general manager of KAN, she helps set the strategy for the team and is passionate about supporting the company’s extensive network of mortgage advisers in achieving their full potential.
Kiwi Adviser Network
Sarah Johnston
Josh Bronkhorst is an accomplished CEO with a robust background in the financial services industry spanning 30-plus years, including roles as a legal adviser, senior financial adviser, business development manager, general manager and national sales manager. He has a demonstrated track record across all sectors of financial services, including insurance, mortgages, fire and general, and investments. He recently spearheaded the very successful development of the Advice Link Mortgage and Insurance CRM. Bronkhorst’s agility and strategic foresight enable him to excel in setting up and acquiring businesses, while leveraging his keen eye for growth opportunities. His dynamic leadership style combined with a passion for innovation fuels a commitment to excellence in his every endeavour.
Link Financial Group
Josh Bronkhorst
Sanjeev Jangra started his own mortgage brokerage in November 2020 under the Loan Market franchise in Manukau, Auckland. He is now a seasoned mortgage adviser with a robust background in banking, including as a BDM at TSB and lending specialist at Westpac. Known for his expertise in home loan products, he excels in identifying tailored solutions for clients, whether they are first-time homebuyers, investors or those looking to refinance. Jangra simplifies the loan approval process, ensuring the best outcomes. He has been recognised with multiple awards, including NZ Adviser's Top Adviser 2023 and New Brokerage of the Year 2023 awards.
Loan Market
Sanjeev Jangra
Driven by the pursuit of innovation and change, Baden Martin has spent over two decades pioneering client-centric strategies in the banking and mortgage advisory sectors. His career journey spanning diverse roles, from grassroots involvement to senior leadership to driving collaboration across multifaceted teams, has given him a holistic understanding of the industry’s complexities. As CEO of NZFSG, Martin embodies a commitment to reshaping traditional practices, transforming distribution channels and propelling the business towards growth and success. His aspiration lies in pioneering change that not only enhances the client experience but also redefines industry standards.
NZ Financial Services Group
Baden Martin
“We’re leaning in hard into that commercial and diversified space, particularly with asset lending here in New Zealand. We’re so underserved here with the lenders in that space”
Jenny Campbell,
Finsure
Advisers setting out to navigate the turbulent seas of the current economy are there to help clients grow their wealth and achieve their financial goals – but who is there to help the advisers?
If advisers are the sailors in this scenario, perhaps aggregators can be seen as the vessels that carry them. Like modern racing yachts, aggregators are continually advancing and adapting, employing the latest systems and knowledge to ensure both safe passage and optimal performance.
Regulations and technological advancements are some of the new stars that have appeared in the sky to help advisers steer clients through the ever-changing conditions, but these guiding lights also mean that the stakes are higher when it comes to strategy and sailing within course boundaries.
NZ Adviser recently sat down with five leading aggregators at Onemata restaurant in the Park Hyatt Auckland to explore some of these challenges. Representatives from Finsure, The Adviser Platform, NZ Financial Services Group (NZFSG), Kiwi Adviser Network (KAN) and Link Financial Group were joined by advisers from Loan Market and The Lending Team. Together, they provided a comprehensive view of the mortgage advice industry’s evolution, touching on everything from the effects of higher interest rates to maturing expectations around compliance to the impact of artificial intelligence on financial advice work.
The conversation revealed a sector in transition, characterised by what one participant described as “growing pains”.
From the aggregator perspective, this period underscores the importance of such factors as income diversification and the ability to adapt to shifting regulatory landscapes. The discussion also highlighted the role of aggregators in providing advisers with support and education, including leveraging technology and regulatory insights to enhance their efficiency and compliance.
Looking to the future as the industry continues to mature, leading voices in the industry also recognise the importance of mentoring programmes and broker education – not only to attract and nurture new talent but also to ensure continued strong service to customers.
“[The issue with open banking is] how to employ AI within a safe environment in order to create efficiencies … I think the next five years will be incredibly exciting”
Josh Bronkhorst, Link Financial Group
“So long as [aggregators] are teaching our advisers to ebb and flow with the market and change what they’re doing, they’ll be fine”
Sarah Johnston,
Kiwi Adviser Network
The long plateau of higher interest rates and the economic challenges this uncertain period brings are affecting how aggregators and advisers operate. The need to diversify income streams, manage fixed rate rollovers and adapt to new compliance environments is critical.
“You’ve got a rapidly increasing interest rate market [which brings] complaints coming from mishandled fixed rate rollovers. That’s something that advisers haven’t really had to deal with in the last five or 10 years,” said Ryan Edwards, managing director at The Adviser Platform (TAP).
“[For a period] almost 70% of my business was just first home buyers, but in the last six months almost 50% is just refinances or restructures”
Sanjeev Jangra, Loan Market
One trend that tends to occur during periods of market uncertainty is a natural increase in people simply looking for relevant and reliable information.
Neville Modlin, co-founder and financial adviser at The Lending Team, is experiencing this at the moment. He has an influx of people seeking advice but not necessarily taking out a loan.
“If you’re 80% advice and 20% lending, then for the 80% there is no new revenue stream from the bank,” he said.
The trick is to enhance trust relationships with clients and put those ‘in the bank’ for the future.
“It’s a fantastic opportunity for advisers to be communicating with clients. There’s so much news at the moment, and it’s all so relevant,” said Jenny Campbell, country manager at Finsure New Zealand.
Chief executive of NZ Financial Services Group Baden Martin agrees.
“This period is about education and what information can we provide to advisers to have those conversations with their customers to be up to date … it’s [important to] give our advisers that real-time information because they’re having these discussions [with clients],” he said.
“Our role really is to provide that [information] or make it available as much as possible.”
In this regard, advisers serve as a kind of information highway sitting between aggregators and the end client, which makes both the input and output side of the role critical.
“We’ve been around long enough to [have seen] these cycles before, and the grimmest of economic times is often the best time to be an adviser because they can really lean into that advice piece,” said Campbell.
Rules and regulations are playing a more prominent role for mortgage advisers in the post-pandemic world, following the introduction of Financial Market Authority (FMA) licensing for financial advice providers (FAPs) in 2021. This has been accompanied by FMA monitoring of businesses – a process that several of the roundtable participants had taken part in.
Martin rated the experience as valuable, the emphasis being on pointing out areas where there are gaps or where improvement is needed.
“I speak very highly of the process.”
NZFSG relayed the findings of the FMA review to its authorised bodies around the country, talking to them about the areas advisers needed to focus on.
Still, many of the market dynamics are not new in terms of the economic cycle, and it’s during such times that expert advice is often most valuable.
“I was there during the GFC when they said the sky was falling, and COVID again when they said the sky was falling, but in fact, what it does is it actually promotes what an adviser can do for their client,” said Sarah Johnston, general manager at mortgage aggregator Kiwi Adviser Network.
She said the market had rapidly moved from being one in which investors were very active, taking advantage of low interest rates and often muscling out regular Kiwis, to one that is now more of a first home buyer market.
Sanjeev Jangra, an adviser at Loan Market, sees this in the flow of business coming through his doors and has adjusted accordingly.
“When interest rates started going up in 2021, I knew investors wouldn’t be buying anything for the next two, three years until interest rates came down, so we turned all our marketing focus towards the first-time buyers. [For a period] almost 70% of my business was just first home buyers, but in the last six months almost 50% is just refinances or restructures. Some of our investor clients are getting their pre-approvals in place, but I think we still have a long way to go,” said Jangra.
Johnston has encouraged the advisers she works with to also roll with the punches. “[You need to] look for the next opportunity [and ask] how do I potentially change my marketing slant to pick up what’s happening. So long as we are teaching our advisers to ebb and flow with the market and change what they’re doing, they’ll be fine.”
Leveraging and anticipating market shifts to find new opportunities is also important in the current market. In this regard, Campbell has unique insights into where many untapped opportunities may lie.
She took the reins at Finsure New Zealand last year as part of the Australian aggregator’s first foray into an overseas market, which gives her a window on possible future directions that could follow the path of the much more advanced market across the Tasman.
“We’re leaning in hard into that commercial and diversified space, particularly with asset lending here in New Zealand. We’re so underserved here with the lenders in that space … it’s been so fascinating for me to see how vibrant that part of the industry is in Australia.”
Campbell sees an obvious gap in the New Zealand market in terms of the low proportion of commercial deals originating via third party channels. “It’s a really natural fit for a mortgage adviser to upskill and learn how to do these deals,” she says. “There’s an enormous opportunity in New Zealand for that.”
When unfulfilled demand exists for advice around commercial deals, many customers will naturally turn to advisers for assistance with quite complex and nuanced lending structures.
“Those advisers that upskill themselves and understand how the market works will really see that opportunity and leverage it, because I think in New Zealand we are underserved,” said Martin.
Diversification is one strategy that advisers can use to make their income streams more robust.
“We’re doing a lot of work with advisers around diversification of income streams … so being able to plug in different referral opportunities or different ways for them to broaden the scope in the depths of their advice and the service that they’re giving clients,” said Edwards.
Non-banks are often a first port of call when a traditional bank declines a customer.
“When we talk diversification at LFG, most of our advisers now also include non-banks in their customer proposition,”
said Josh Bronkhorst, chief executive at Link Financial Group (LFG).
This area of the market is rapidly maturing. A few years ago, most advisers dealt with only a few main banks, but Link, for example, now has 44 lenders on its panel.
But there are many other arrows that an adviser can add to their quiver – they could move into commercial lending or insurance, for example, or offer other types of financial advice around managed funds or KiwiSaver.
“LFG has successfully assisted many of our advisers to create a passive income through our in-house referral process on products such as Insurance, Fire and General, KiwiSaver + Managed Funds and Commercial Lending.”
Read on
Modlin also praised the FMA’s approach: “They didn’t come in looking for ‘what we did wrong’; they wanted to learn about our business and how we were operating. It was all about understanding where we were and checking to ensure we understood the purpose of the regulations,” he said.
He noted that the FMA heavily focused on whether the customers’ interests were being upheld.
“The biggest thing we took out of it was when we are explaining something to customers, we need to ensure we have documented recognition that they understand.”
Aggregators play a key role in helping advisers meet their compliance requirements, and technology is one of the tools for achieving this.
“Compliance by design should be built into the CRM platform so that advisers know that if they follow the process and they start at the beginning and get to the end, they should feel as though they have ticked all the boxes in terms of compliance,” said Martin.
Advisers appreciate the fact that technology now does a lot of the work on their behalf.
Another way aggregators can support advisers is by helping them become compliant as an industry and providing moral leadership to that end.
“The biggest thing we can do as aggregators is to facilitate a safe place where people can come and ask questions to learn and move forward,” said Johnston.
Rather than dictating how to properly do a certain type of deal, which could have a strong company slant if coming from one particular aggregator, Johnson said aggregators needed to encourage advisers to connect with others with relevant experience.
So far, the FMA appears happy with the progress the industry has made.
The inaugural FMA monitoring report published in late May, which included the monitoring visits, covered more
Over the last 12 years, Finsure has become one of the fastest-growing aggregators in the Asia-Pacific, providing maximum value and helping advisers achieve their goals. We have achieved this success by getting to know our advisers’ needs and the nature of adviser success, and by gaining an understanding of how we can support our network members to become some of the best in the industry. In speaking with our partners in New Zealand, we identified the need for a holistic and comprehensive aggregation solution for Kiwis and have created award-winning services to bring to the table.
Find out more
In Partnership with
Helping advisers navigate change
With advisers facing economic and regulatory challenges, aggregators provide essential support and advanced tools to help them succeed and better serve their clients
Read on
Sanjeev Jangra
Loan Market
Josh Bronkhorst
Link Financial Group
Sarah Johnston
Kiwi Adviser Network
Jenny Campbell
Finsure
Industry experts
Heading up the New Zealand arm of Finsure, one of Australasia’s largest mortgage adviser aggregators, Jenny Campbell is a familiar face to many within the NZ lending community. Having previously run the peak professional bodies in the financial adviser space, as well as a large, branded mortgage broker group, she brings a wealth of experience to Finsure. Campbell is a relentless cheerleader for advisers and a champion of the power of ‘great advice’.
Finsure
Jenny Campbell
Sarah Johnston is the general manager of leading New Zealand mortgage aggregator Kiwi Adviser Network (KAN). A highly experienced senior executive in the mortgage and finance industry, she has worked in various BDM, management and sales support roles for almost 30 years. Johnson has been focused on the broker space since 2000, when she helped set up the Westpac Broker Channel before moving into a new role in 2004 to assist mortgage advisers in growing their businesses. As general manager of KAN, she helps set the strategy for the team and is passionate about supporting the company’s extensive network of mortgage advisers in achieving their full potential.
Kiwi Adviser Network
Sarah Johnston
Josh Bronkhorst is an accomplished CEO with a robust background in the financial services industry spanning 30-plus years, including roles as a legal adviser, senior financial adviser, business development manager, general manager and national sales manager. He has a demonstrated track record across all sectors of financial services, including insurance, mortgages, fire and general, and investments. He recently spearheaded the very successful development of the Advice Link Mortgage and Insurance CRM. Bronkhorst’s agility and strategic foresight enable him to excel in setting up and acquiring businesses, while leveraging his keen eye for growth opportunities. His dynamic leadership style combined with a passion for innovation fuels a commitment to excellence in his every endeavour.
Link Financial Group
Josh Bronkhorst
Sanjeev Jangra started his own mortgage brokerage business in November 2020 under the Loan Market franchise in Manukau, Auckland. He is now a seasoned mortgage adviser with a robust background in banking, including as a BDM at TSB and lending specialist at Westpac. Known for his expertise in home loan products, he excels in identifying tailored solutions for clients, whether they are first-time homebuyers, investors or those looking to refinance. Jangra simplifies the loan approval process, ensuring the best outcomes. He has been recognised with multiple awards, including NZ Adviser Top Adviser 2023 and New Brokerage of the Year 2023.
Loan Market
Sanjeev Jangra
In Partnership with
Helping advisers navigate change
With advisers facing economic and regulatory challenges, aggregators provide essential support and advanced tools to help them succeed and better serve their clients
Read on
Sanjeev Jangra
Loan Market
Josh Bronkhorst
Link Financial Group
Sarah Johnston
Kiwi Adviser Network
Jenny Campbell
Finsure
Industry experts
Sanjeev Jangra started his own mortgage brokerage business in November 2020 under the Loan Market franchise in Manukau, Auckland. He is now a seasoned mortgage adviser with a robust background in banking, including as a BDM at TSB and lending specialist at Westpac. Known for his expertise in home loan products, he excels in identifying tailored solutions for clients, whether they are first-time homebuyers, investors or those looking to refinance. Jangra simplifies the loan approval process, ensuring the best outcomes. He has been recognised with multiple awards, including NZ Adviser Top Adviser 2023 and New Brokerage of the Year 2023.
Loan Market
Sanjeev Jangra
Josh Bronkhorst is an accomplished CEO with a robust background in the financial services industry spanning 30-plus years, including roles as a legal adviser, senior financial adviser, business development manager, general manager and national sales manager. He has a demonstrated track record across all sectors of financial services, including insurance, mortgages, fire and general, and investments. He recently spearheaded the very successful development of the Advice Link Mortgage and Insurance CRM. Bronkhorst’s agility and strategic foresight enable him to excel in setting up and acquiring businesses, while leveraging his keen eye for growth opportunities. His dynamic leadership style combined with a passion for innovation fuels a commitment to excellence in his every endeavour.
Link Financial Group
Josh Bronkhorst
Sarah Johnston is the general manager of leading New Zealand mortgage aggregator Kiwi Adviser Network (KAN). A highly experienced senior executive in the mortgage and finance industry, she has worked in various BDM, management and sales support roles for almost 30 years. Johnson has been focused on the broker space since 2000, when she helped set up the Westpac Broker Channel before moving into a new role in 2004 to assist mortgage advisers in growing their businesses. As general manager of KAN, she helps set the strategy for the team and is passionate about supporting the company’s extensive network of mortgage advisers in achieving their full potential.
Kiwi Adviser Network
Sarah Johnston
Heading up the New Zealand arm of Finsure, one of Australasia’s largest mortgage adviser aggregators, Jenny Campbell is a familiar face to many within the NZ lending community. Having previously run the peak professional bodies in the financial adviser space, as well as a large, branded mortgage broker group, she brings a wealth of experience to Finsure. Campbell is a relentless cheerleader for advisers and a champion of the power of ‘great advice’.
Finsure
Jenny Campbell
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Impact of economic changes on advisers and clients
Published 01 Jul 2024
Neville Modlin
The Lending Team
Ryan Edwards
The Adviser Platform
Baden Martin
NZ Financial Services Group
Ryan Edwards has been at The Adviser Platform for over six years. And with more than 15 years’ experience in the financial services industry in Australia and New Zealand, he has a great track record of working with advisers to help them develop their client service offering and grow their businesses. Edwards and his team are focused on helping New Zealand advisers grow successful, profitable and compliant businesses.
The Adviser Platform
Ryan Edwards
Neville Modlin, co-founder and financial adviser at The Lending Team, brings to the company more than 30 years’ experience in the finance industry. Empowering business owners to take control of their mortgage and business lending needs, he is known for his ability to convert complex scenarios into simple tailored solutions. Modlin’s background as a born accountant and auditor combined with his deep passion for business has built him a reputation for helping countless clients achieve their financial goals. Outside the office, he shares an enthusiasm for endurance sports such as Ironman.
The Lending Team
Neville Modlin
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Meeting the challenges of tougher times
Kiwi Adviser Network was established in 2020 by business partners Chuck Slogrove and Ben Krebs, who have extensive experience in the financial advice and fintech industries. Acknowledging the extra burden of recent regulation and licensing changes, the pair were driven by a desire to provide mortgage advisers with a straightforward solution to help them run stronger, more compliant advice businesses. KAN provides advisers with high-quality technology, products, training and advice to unlock their time and help them achieve long-term business growth and success. The aggregator’s vision is to create mutual partnerships with brokers that provide real value and support.
Find out more
Leveraging underserviced parts of the market
Link Financial Group (LFG) is a broad Financial Services Aggregator focusing on Mortgage and Insurance Aggregation, Investment and Fire & General referral opportunities, services and support. Our comprehensive compliance service ensures that our advisers continue to meet all of their regulatory obligations. LFG has a proven track record of supporting adviser businesses on their growth and success journey. We are part of the NZHL Group and 100% Kiwi-owned. LFG offers multiple options to advisers such as becoming an Authorised Body utilising the Mortgage and Insurance Link brands, or operating under their own brand and FAP licence. Whilst utilising our comprehensive compliance service, our services include Group PI and DRS schemes, Compliance support, a comprehensive custom CRM, professional development, and much more.
Find out more
Regulatory compliance and the aggregator role
“As much as we’re already living in this world of AI, it’s still very rudimentary, and I think there’s a whole lot more coming”
Baden Martin,
NZ Financial Services Group
New Zealand Financial Services Group (NZFSG) is a leading financial services provider in New Zealand, dedicated to empowering 1,150 advisers with a choice of services to help them excel in insurance, residential, commercial and asset finance. With a focus on innovation and excellence, NZFSG is committed to helping Kiwis secure their financial futures.
Find out more
than 350,000 clients and was designed to check on how each business had responded to the regulatory changes originally introduced in 2021.
“The CRM systems are becoming very robust to help us in the compliance space, as long as the basics are done right,” said Jangra.
Even so, it can be difficult for some advisers to demonstrate compliance in an efficient way – but this is an area that aggregators can help with.
“What is being asked of advisers is not unreasonable,” said Edwards. “It makes good commercial sense to have all this stuff at your fingertips – it’s about how you can pull good-quality data to show that you are doing a good job.”
While there is still evidence of growing pains in the sector in terms of compliance, Edwards sees a big difference between now and a few years ago.
“I think there’s a real maturing of the adviser market, going from [a mindset of] ‘I’m an adviser’ to now ‘I'm a business owner’,” he said.
Advisers received high marks, something the aggregators were pleased to see.
“It was lovely to see mortgage advisers being picked out for great conduct,” said Campbell. “We should be super, super proud that the industry is embracing the regulations and in many cases going above and beyond.”
Martin called the report well written and well balanced, one that highlighted what was going well but also pointed out further areas to work on.
Aggregators can find themselves helping advisers in other ways too. The unfairness of clawbacks is one issue they tackle.
“If we know about it, we challenge it, and generally the lenders are actually very open to having a discussion about reviewing it because they can see [the unfairness] as well … there is a mechanical function that sits behind it,” said Johnston.
The high profile of the issue and vocal adviser feedback has helped, with the Commerce Commission hearing that clawbacks should be reduced. Because banks generally understand that brokers work hard and provide a good service, they may be amenable to any recommendations for change.
But aggregators are limited by the realities of the New Zealand banking environment in some areas, such as speed of service versus a customer going direct. Pricing is an area that aggregators also have little influence over. And New Zealand banks are behind their overseas counterparts when it comes to developments such as open banking.
Advocating for advisers
“It’s a bit of a perfect storm in terms of the economic [situation] and the governance and regulation piece coming in at quite a challenging time”
Ryan Edwards,
The Adviser Platform
The Adviser Platform (TAP) is a full-service management platform offering financial advisers in New Zealand all the tools, support and training to run their advice businesses successfully. Founded by a team with decades in financial advice, TAP provides industry-leading administration support; a bespoke CRM for advisers; mortgage aggregation; as well as practical regulatory, governance and compliance support.
Find out more
Indeed, aggregators are now able to take a more systematic approach to addressing poor customer service at lenders, partly due to their central-conduit role for many transactions, as well as tech advances.
KAN, for example, is able to log every complaint into a centralised database and look for patterns that need raising with lenders.
“I can sit down every couple of weeks with my team and see trends are coming through the registers that I can actually pick up and have a proactive conversation with a provider,” said Johnston.
Lenders are always concerned about their reputation in the market. Bringing out quality data about a troubling trend during a meeting can be highly persuasive. Of course, if advisers don’t voice their concerns, a trend might go under the radar.
“It’s actually imperative that we, as advisers, feed that information to [aggregators],” said Modlin.
“[The FMA] didn’t come in looking for ‘what we did wrong’; they wanted to learn about our business and how we were operating”
Neville Modlin, The Lending Team
The fact that technology now impacts areas of mortgage advice as broad as compliance, advocacy and customer relations underscores just how all-encompassing it has become. But the real revolution lies ahead with AI.
A recent report from Accenture showed that generative AI will transform work across many industries, with banking and insurance at the top of the list in terms potential for change among the 20 sectors surveyed.
Technology accelerating change for advisers
“As much as we’re already living in this world of AI, it’s still very rudimentary, and I think there’s a whole lot more coming,” said Martin.
Aggregators are already using AI for risk management.
“You can look for certain risk indicators, and you can use AI to look for things within files that [indicate] we need to focus on a particular group at a population level rather than just a sample. From an aggregator perspective in terms of managing a licence, that’s really good,” he said.
Others are working towards major advances in customer management, which will translate into time savings for advisers.
“We have a massive team working on our AI project within our CRM, because we think that’s the way of the future. It’s a train that we need to get on,” said Campbell, citing tools that can transcribe conversations in real time.
“We’ll be able to pick out the data points in those conversations and prefill a lot of the compliance forms.”
Campbell describes that change in the nature of the data involved as going from linear to a “moving ball of data” that can be integrated into systems.
“That’s what I get super excited about, because it’s going to revolutionise the way that you can tailor your communications to your clients to make a bespoke experience for your client very, very easily.”
This will result in a huge time dividend for advisers that they can use for the essential work of human-to-human interaction.
Others use AI for lead generation by dovetailing it with social media.
“I think if you’re not using AI, you’re going to be left behind within the next 12 to 18 months,” said Jangra.
He is excited about AI that can have conversations with scores of different people simultaneously and the implications for his sales pipeline.
Open banking, which has now been given a timetable in New Zealand, will also be supercharged by AI.
“[The issue with open banking is] how to employ AI within a safe environment in order to create efficiencies … when you have large sets of data, companies will want to employ AI to create efficiencies and to automate critical functions,” said Bronkhorst.
“I think the next five years will be incredibly exciting.”
But this brave new world may be one that some of today’s advisers won’t need to be familiar with.
“If you look across the advisory industry, it’s generally an ageing population, so we do have a problem. Not necessarily now, but in the coming years you will see a lot of advisers retire,” said Martin. “It is beholden on us to have mechanisms or ways to attract new talent into the industry to replace those that are leaving.”
To this end, the creation of mentoring programmes and new broker academies to attract and support new talent will be key. Many aggregators are beefing up such programmes to ensure a steady supply of advisers.
Finsure is looking at creating a ‘broker academy’ in New Zealand due to the success of similar initiatives across the ditch. The academy identifies young advisers and helps with training and qualifications but also gives them a safe space to learn in a structured environment.
“It gives them a mentorship and teaches them about not just how to do it alone but actually how to run a business right, because these are two quite different skill sets,” said Campbell.
Back-office systems are part of the 24-month programme. “We can design and host websites for them, we can host the emails for them, do the logos – all that sort of fun.”
One issue such programmes need to address is building confidence. Advisers generally make the leap from a salaried position to setting up their own business – a scary proposition in any field.
“There’s a whole lot you need to learn really quickly,” said Martin. “You might be an expert at lending, but do you know how to run a business?”
It’s also a time when getting cash flowing is a key concern. Aggregators understand that new businesses need time to build momentum, and they cut them some slack in this department.
“We have a mentoring programme that we’ve been offering for quite a while that’s focused on how to be an adviser, how to run a business, and particularly how to workshop a deal,” said Bronkhorst. “We work to support [new advisers] through subsidies and flexibility around fees to make it easier to start out in the industry.”
Future generations of advisers
Source: Financial Market Authority Financial Advice Provider Monitoring Insights report, May 2024
Number of monitoring engagements:∼60
Number of clients covered by FAP monitoring: >350,000
FAP monitoring engagements, by the numbers
Documents reviewed: >1,000
Interviews conducted:
Almost 500
Client files reviewed: >500
Banking and insurance most likely industries to be transformed by Generative AI
banking
1
54%
12%
24%
10%
Insurance
2
48%
14%
26%
12%
software and platforms
3
36%
21%
28%
15%
capital markets
4
40%
14%
29%
18%
energy
5
43%
9%
14%
34%
average across 20 industries
31%
9%
22%
38%
natural resources
20
20%
5%
11%
64%
Rank
industry
Higher potential for automation
Higher potential for augmentation
Lower potential for automation or augmentation
Non-language tasks
Source: A New Era of Generative AI for Everyone report, Accenture 2023
Neville Modlin
The Lending Team
Ryan Edwards
The Adviser Platform
Baden Martin
NZ Financial Services Group
Driven by the pursuit of innovation and change, Baden Martin has spent over two decades pioneering client-centric strategies in the banking and mortgage advisory sectors. His career journey spanning diverse roles, from grassroots involvement to senior leadership to driving collaboration across multifaceted teams, has given him a holistic understanding of the industry’s complexities. As CEO of NZFSG, Martin embodies a commitment to reshaping traditional practices, transforming distribution channels and propelling the business towards growth and success. His aspiration lies in pioneering change that not only enhances the client experience but also redefines industry standards.
NZ Financial Services Group
Baden Martin
Ryan Edwards has been at The Adviser Platform for over six years. And with over 15 years’ experience in the financial services industry in Australia and New Zealand, he has a great track record of working with advisers to help them develop their client service offering and grow their businesses. Edwards and his team are focused on helping New Zealand advisers grow successful, profitable and compliant businesses.
The Adviser Platform
Ryan Edwards
Neville Modlin, co-founder and financial adviser at The Lending Team, brings to the company more than 30 years’ experience in the finance industry. Empowering business owners to take control of their mortgage and business lending needs, he is known for his ability to convert complex scenarios into simple tailored solutions. Modlin’s background as a born accountant and auditor combined with a deep passion for business has built him a reputation for helping countless clients achieve their financial goals. Outside the office, he shares an enthusiasm for endurance sports such as Ironman.
The Lending Team
Neville Modlin
Neville Modlin
The Lending Team
Ryan Edwards
The Adviser Platform
Baden Martin
NZ Financial Services Group
Driven by the pursuit of innovation and change, Baden Martin has spent over two decades pioneering client-centric strategies in the banking and mortgage advisory sectors. His career journey spanning diverse roles, from grassroots involvement to senior leadership to driving collaboration across multifaceted teams, has given him a holistic understanding of the industry’s complexities. As CEO of NZFSG, Martin embodies a commitment to reshaping traditional practices, transforming distribution channels and propelling the business towards growth and success. His aspiration lies in pioneering change that not only enhances the client experience but also redefines industry standards.
NZ Financial Services Group
Baden Martin
Ryan Edwards has been at The Adviser Platform for over six years. And with over 15 years’ experience in the financial services industry in Australia and New Zealand, he has a great track record of working with advisers to help them develop their client service offering and grow their businesses. Edwards and his team are focused on helping New Zealand advisers grow successful, profitable and compliant businesses.
The Adviser Platform
Ryan Edwards
Neville Modlin, co-founder and financial adviser at The Lending Team, brings to the company more than 30 years’ experience in the finance industry. Empowering business owners to take control of their mortgage and business lending needs, he is known for his ability to convert complex scenarios into simple tailored solutions. Modlin’s background as a born accountant and auditor combined with a deep passion for business has built him a reputation for helping countless clients achieve their financial goals. Outside the office, he shares an enthusiasm for endurance sports such as Ironman.
The Lending Team
Neville Modlin
“There’s no doubt that the banks in New Zealand have struggled with structured data,” said Martin. “Australia is much more advanced in this area because their systems allow APIs that link between the integrated CRMs and the lenders.”
But there is no bank conspiracy to slow down the adviser channel in order to garner more direct business.
Regardless of the practical restrictions around how much aggregators can achieve by advocating for advisers, the fact remains that regular, proactive engagement with lenders is an important task for them, and this extends to influencing customer outcomes too.
Mentoring is big part of many programmes as the theory and practice of mortgage broking are not the same.
“We tend to partner new advisers who approach us with experienced advisers from our network who can act as a mentor, someone who’s already in the business who’s doing this work every day,” said Johnston. “Because to be able to sit in front of 10 clients a week and watch a master at work is really different.”
To be sure, not everyone lasts the distance. “There can be a lot of fallout before the two-year mark. But if you can get past that and build a network of clients who are feeding you back, then you’ll survive.”
Aggregators are keen to improve the odds as much as possible for those who choose to become advisers, and to help ensure that the quality of the advice they are providing is high. In this regard, the stricter regulatory environment works hand in hand with aggregator efforts to support their networks.
“Our role really is to smooth that pathway … so that they can come into the industry and know they’ve got experts around them that will help nurture them and give them the skills, the knowledge; that they have the marketing support, the IT support, compliance and all the things that you need to grow a great business, and give them the confidence to do that,” said Martin.
While there are still a few new advisers who are not yet up to speed, the feeling around the table was that the industry has come a long way in a few years – something that is not acknowledged as often as it should be in terms of outreach.
“The industry as a whole needs to get better at promoting (a) the amazing job that we do, and (b) the amazing outcomes for clients and how much we do actually help people,” said Edwards.
The one thing new advisers should have no shortage of is questions – this is a sign of a healthy industry.
“[New advisers need to be asking] ‘what am I actually doing? How do I actually run a business? Do I have the support mechanisms behind me so I’m focused on that 90% of the time rather than 10 or 20% of the time?’” said Edwards.
“It’s a bloody good career. But for someone who wants to get into the industry, how do we get them in and coach, support and mentor them so they are actually around in two years? And running a really good business? And actually helping people?”
As the industry navigates evolving dynamics and meets challenges new and old, aggregators’ continued commitment to helping advisers succeed will be essential for them to thrive and adapt, and essential for advisers, in turn, to help their clients reach financial goals.
“It’s a bit of a perfect storm in terms of the economic [situation] and the governance and regulation piece coming in at quite a challenging time.”
