We’re seeing more FAPs and financial advisers expand the range of advice they provide. For some, this is about supporting business growth. For others, it’s about responding to what clients are asking for.

Consumer research continues to show that clients prefer to receive advice from a trusted source who can support them across multiple areas of their financial lives, rather than working with several different advisers.

Once that trust is established, it’s often far easier to support existing clients with additional advice needs than it is to find and onboard new clients. Some refer to this as increasing share of wallet or cross selling. We see it more simply as meeting client needs in a holistic and client-centred way.

Is expanding your advice scope difficult?

A common misconception is that moving into new advice areas is complex, time consuming, or expensive. In many cases, it isn’t.

If you operate under a FAP licence, that licence already enables advice to be provided across multiple product areas. Expanding your scope doesn’t usually require a licence variation. Instead, the focus is on making sure the right capability and processes are in place.

This typically means:

• Ensuring advisers or nominated representatives hold the relevant specialist strand.
• Having appropriate advice processes, templates, and compliance support in place for the new advice area.

With the right support, these steps are usually straightforward to implement.

Completing a specialist strand

Where an adviser wants to provide advice in an additional product area, they’ll need to complete the relevant specialist strand of the New Zealand Certificate in Financial Services (Level 5) Version 3. This can be undertaken on its own, without completing the full qualification. A strand is typically around 30 credits, can be completed within a relatively short timeframe, and provides a cost-effective way to formally expand an adviser’s scope of advice. Fees are in the vicinity of $750 plus GST.

How we can help

We offer all specialist strands under the New Zealand Certificate in Financial Services (Level 5) Version 3 and support both individual advisers and FAPs looking to broaden their advice capability.

These strands cover:

• Investments.
• Life, disability, and health insurance.
• General insurance.
• Residential property lending.

If you’ve been thinking about expanding your advice offering, or simply want to understand what’s involved, we’re always happy to talk it through.