Following a review led by industry veteran Arthur Naoumidis, the Dash platform has been selected to partner with the Association of Independently Owned Financial Professionals (AIOFP) for its new white-label offering, Foundation Adviser Wrap.
Naoumidis will head up a new entity, Foundation Platform Services, which has been established to drive the rollout of the white-label wrap, whose launch follows recent decisions by major platforms, including Macquarie, Netwealth and Hub24, to restrict access for certain dealer groups.
He stated he had conducted a multi-month review before deciding Dash was best positioned to support the needs of independent advisers.
“Strong governance and clear standards are critical to the long-term sustainability of the advice industry. Protecting end investors and ensuring high-quality advice outcomes should always be the priority,” he said.
“In partnering with Dash, we found a group that not only understands the critical role of technology in modern advice, but is committed to building solutions that put advisers and their clients first, whilst maintaining important governance infrastructure. Their alignment to this principle has been clear from day one.”
Under the new platform, advisers will retain access to the platform while client assets remain in place, a key issue for independent advisers who face the risk of platforms being able to restrict access without cause. Any restrictions triggered by regulatory or disciplinary action would only apply to individual advisers and not entire advisory groups.
“This is about resetting expectations. Advisers should not lose access to critical infrastructure due to decisions beyond their control,” Naoumidis said.
Dash’s long-standing commitment to adviser-centric client-first design was especially attractive to Naoumidis, as well as its ability to support critical governance frameworks.
“Advisers play a central role in delivering informed, personalised financial outcomes. Limiting their ability to operate, or inserting platforms directly into client relationships, creates friction and uncertainty, particularly at a time when access to advice is already constrained,” Dash strategy executive director Darren Pettiona added.
Pettiona also pointed out that given only 10 per cent of Australians currently receive financial advice, it was more important than ever for the industry to be focused on extending access and not narrowing it.
Foundation Adviser Wrap is expected to launch in the next few months.
Jason Spits
SENIOR JOURNALIST
Jason is a senior journalist with Benchmark Media and writes for the selfmanagedsuper website and magazine and smstrusteenews website. He has covered financial services since 1999 and has written about life insurance, superannuation, investment management and financial advice, in both a freelance and in-house capacity, and also did a brief stint as a media manager for an industry association. He has been the editor of trade titles Money Management and Financial Standard, and was most recently senior journalist with life insurance title Riskinfo.
Articles by Jason