A new advice group delivering specialist life insurance advice to individuals and businesses has been launched.
The group, called Risk Advice Specialists, aims to provide appropriate life, trauma and disablement insurance cover for individuals, and to offer advice on life insurance as a component of estate planning and business succession planning.
General Manager, Adam Lane, told riskinfo the group was established to provide a greater level of support for life insurance advisers.
“If you look at the market you can see that there is a need for risk specialist dealer groups.
“In my previous role (as National Sales Manager with Macquarie) I’d have advisers say to me: ‘I’ve just been at a PD Day, and out of the 16 hours of sessions there was only 1 hour of risk’. They were telling me they wanted more support, and more training related to selling insurance.”
He added that rather than focusing on a broad range of financial advice, the specialist approach allows advisers to work closely with their clients to understand their individual life insurance needs.
“As a client it is not just about having life insurance, it is about having the appropriate type and level of cover and this is where getting advice from a risk specialist can really make a difference,” he said.
Risk Advice Specialists operates with an open approved product list (APL), but Mr Lane says the group is looking for ‘preferred’ product providers.
“These are going to be insurers that can provide our advisers with quality support in the way of claims management, underwriting, technical support, input into PD days, etc. We expect to have those arrangements in place in the next two to three months,” he said.
Owned by Macquarie Group, Risk Advice Specialists currently has seven authorised representatives working out of six practices. Mr Lane says this is an advantage because advisers will be able to access a network of risk referrers, including accountants, financial planners and brokers. “Within the Macquarie network there are referral opportunities and we’ll be looking to continue and grow those arrangements.”
The Risk Advice Specialist advisers will also have access to Macquarie’s support services which include technical advice, compliance, marketing and training.
