AXA accreditation a success

AXA has reported its Certified Quality Advice program has experienced success, with increasing numbers of financial planning practices opting to work towards achieving the Certified Quality Advice Practice (CQAP) accreditation.

According to AXA national compliance and advisory services manager Simon Wallace, the CQAP accreditation exceeds the industry benchmark for providing quality financial advice and, as such, is hard to obtain, with only those practices with business management and service procedures of the highest standards likely to achieve the status.

“Our process sets tough, stringent guidelines for practices and advisers that are not easy to meet, and some of our bigger-value practices are still working towards their accreditation,” he said.

“Just about everyone has said it has been a fantastic experience to go through because it has made them have a good, hard look at how they run their business, and in particular, the key area of providing advice, to ensure they have the appropriate checks and balances in place.

“CQAP practices place high priority on measuring client satisfaction and expectations to ultimately offer clients a better, more complete service.”

Once obtaining the accreditation, practices undergo annual reviews that determine whether their business’ systems are kept at a high standard to ensure they retain the CQAP status.