FPA rolls out online diagnostic tool designed to help identify fintech solutions

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A fintech solution for every part of the financial advice process

The Financial Planning Association of Australia (FPA) is delighted to announce the launch of a new online diagnostic tool designed to help identify fintech solutions that can improve the profitability and efficiency of financial planning practices.

The new tool, developed with leading advice technology provider YTML, quantifies the actual costs involved in providing advice, determines how long it takes to provide end-to-end service, and provides the basis for calculating how to price services accordingly.

YTML has used its expertise in serving financial advice businesses to digitise the advice process on its Highlighter platform. By utilising the FPA’s fintech report Mapping Fintech to the Financial Planning Process, it has created an engaging and easy to use tool for FPA members.

Dante De Gori CFP^®, FPA CEO, said: “In an environment of increasing costs and regulation, understanding the financial planning process, how long it takes, and how much it costs is important for our members. This knowledge can be used to identify how fintech can complement and enhance the financial planning process.

“Fintech will continue to profoundly change the client/planner relationship and transform our profession as a whole. Combined with the FPA Fintech Buyers Guide and Checklist, the new YTML tool enables members to get a clear picture of the time and costs involved in every part of their advice process, in order to identify, compare, and implement technology solutions that will help their financial planning business improve operational efficiency, and meet the challenges of increased regulatory and educational requirements.

“The FPA has partnered with YTML as their tool is an easy to use and engaging solution which highlights how fintech solutions can be implemented in every part of the advice process, helping financial planners achieve greater revenue generation, reduce advice costs, and serve more clients with differing levels of advice needs and engagement requirements. All of these benefits will lead to more profitable financial planning practices.”

Utilising the data from this new tool, the FPA will also be developing a report which will help financial planners benchmark their business costs and level of efficiency against peers to help determine how they’re performing.

How the tool works

• By inputting information about the operation of their final planning practice, members can ascertain how long their financial advice process takes and how much it costs to provide advice.
• The tool, which features a simple drag and drop functionality, enables the creation of documentation and mapping of the practices specific advice process steps.
• The whole process takes between 5 to 10 minutes, and generates a report which can be received by email. The report can then be used with the resources available on the FPA’s Fintech hub to identify fintech tools that can improve the profitability and efficiency of the practice’s advice process.
• The YTML Highlighter fintech tool can assist financial planners with managing workflow, creating and managing websites, converting excel and PDF files into web-based forms for improved engagement with clients, and document generation.

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