QAR: Midwinter welcomes customer centric nature of final report

Last week’s released final report of the QAR Review has revealed a list of recommendations aiming to improve Australians’ access to high quality, affordable and accessible financial advice.

Steve Davison, Chief Commercial Officer at Midwinter, Bravura Solutions’ financial advice platform welcomes the customer centric nature of the review’s final report.

According to Steve, “A whole segment of the market is locked out of advice due to prohibitive costs today, a problem which is exacerbated by the fact that most personal advice services are too sophisticated for the simple advice needs of the average consumer”.

“The role of digital advice has been called out in the report as a key enabler for providing affordable advice offerings and reducing complexity for professional advisers. Midwinter digital advice technology already underpins member and adviser-led advice services – predominately intra-fund advice – for 12 superannuation funds.

“Broadening the scope of organisations that can provide advice is an opportunity to fill the consumer advice gap by allowing financial product providers to serve consumers with simple or limited needs, while professional advisers serve the portion of the market that wants scaled through comprehensive advice or an ongoing adviser relationship.

“We believe technology will play a pivotal role for both relevant and non-relevant providers by increasing the reach and relevance of financial advice. It will by no means completely replace the role of a professional financial adviser; the role of digital advice is to facilitate advice for consumers with simple needs and offer a path to comprehensive advice through client engagement tools and advice journeys delivered by professional advisers.”