FPA set to win RateCity mandate

The Financial Planning Association (FPA) is in advanced negotiations with retail financial product portal RateCity to give its Certified Financial Planners (CFPs) direct access to the portal’s 8 million customers.

The FPA is negotiating to provide a list of its branded CFPs to RateCity — a ninemsn and Cannex joint venture — to facilitate the pending launch of a first-ever life insurance section on the portal.

Negotiations began earlier this year after industry coding agency APIR Systems approached the FPA on behalf of RateCity to participate in the project, which will enable consumers to compare and buy life cover online.

The approach to the FPA occurred during the now-completed negotiations between APIR and RateCity for APIR to provide its industry standard coding for the life cover products included on the portal.

APIR recommended an approach to the FPA after RateCity suggested that a financial planner referral service should be linked to the site to assist visitors due to the complexity of life insurance products.

While the negotiations have yet to be finalised, an FPA spokesman told MoneyManagement that the “concept has the potential to provide a lot of benefits to both consumers and financial planners”.

“We look forward to working with both RateCity and APIR to ensure (RateCity) users receive financial advice from our planners who hold the CFP designation.”

APIR managing director Andy Hutchings-Broso said the “idea is to provide (consumers with) an open referral service for advice, although the details are all locked into the RateCity software”.

Hutchings-Broso said the RateCity project would “unleash an opportunity for financial planners to tap into the online world’s immense business value and potential for long-term customer relationships”.

“Currently, planners get their clients largely by virtue of belonging to a branded dealer group or by referrals — whereas in the Internet market the doors are suddenly thrown open to anybody to do business.”

An agreement between the FPA and RateCity will see APIR’s initial project brief to code the life insurance products extended to include coding of the individual CFPs on the portal.

APIR’s appointment to the project follows the extension last year of its coding and directory services to include life risk products after providing industry standard codes for managed funds for several years.