KnowITdigital has announced three additions to its wealthdigital online platform, including the areas of study and compliance.
The software product and services company told a media luncheon in Sydney today that it has established a study hub on wealthdigital to aid financial advisers who need to undertake additional study to meet education requirements stipulated by the Financial Adviser Standards and Ethics Authority (FASEA).
KnowITdigital technical manager Rob Lavery said the study hub is a natural extension of wealthdigital’s existing materials.
“Wealthdigital already contains thousands of pages of information advisers will find invaluable in their studies,” Lavery said.
“When we undertook the process of researching the common subjects and topics in tertiary financial planning qualifications, it quickly became obvious this information needed to be reorganised in a way that aligns to subjects undertaken in the qualifications.”
The study hub provides links to internal and external resources and covers more than 10 subjects, including superannuation and retirement planning, risk management, the financial planning environment and behavioural finance.
The hub also includes tips on choosing a course, planning a study timetable, producing written assignments and taking examinations in a university environment.
KnowITdigital chief executive Wayne Wilson also announced a joint venture with financial services law firm Holley Nethercote in response to feedback that small and medium-sized businesses are finding it challenging to access affordable compliance services.
“Over the past six months we have worked closely with Holley Nethercote to put together a package of compliance services and training specifically designed to help small to medium-sized AFSLs (Australian financial services licensees) and financial planning practices,” Wilson said.
Holley Nethercote partner Paul Derham said the royal commission into financial services has resulted in the corporate regulator toughening up its monitoring and enforcement of compliance with financial services laws.
“Our business was established to keep clients out of court and out of the hands of the regulators. Our partnership with knowIT provides a fantastic opportunity for small to medium-sized licensees to be able to access compliance services,” Derham said.
“We have spent considerable time and expertise developing core compliance documents.”
KnowITdigital also announced a joint venture with aged-care business Aged Care Gurus, which Wilson said is an opportunity to be a part of the solution in light of the recent announcement of a royal commission into the aged-care sector.
Aged Care Gurus principal Rachel Lane said advisers are now realising aged-care advice is broader than just guiding clients who wish to move into residential aged-care facilities and need to decide whether to sell or keep their family home.
“Unfortunately for most advisers, they have very little in the way of formal education in this area and limited access to training and tools to help them provide quality advice to their clients,” Lane said.
Wilson said his firm has been working with Aged Care Gurus for a year to develop a suite of tools and training for advisers wanting to provide specialist advice on retirement living and aged care.
