Premium signs on with ARC

Sydney-based dealer groupPremium Accountinghas signed on with Adviser Resource Centre (ARC) in a deal that pushes the number of dealer groups signed to the service this year into double figures.

ARC says the signing of the groups is further evidence of the growth of communication and compliance management as key arenas of business competition in the Australian financial services industry.

According to Adviser Resources (ARC provider) chief executive Ken Boag, communication, both within dealer groups and from advisers to clients, is now equal in importance to product knowledge and range.

"The majority of an adviser's value offering as perceived by the client relates to how frequently, professionally and reliably the adviser shares information and decision-making possibilities with them," Boag says.

Premium’s general manager Helen Bridgewood says those dealer groups with distribution channels unable to compete in terms of communication effectiveness and efficiency, and in managing their compliance, will quickly fall by the wayside.

“Previously, we — like nearly everyone else — saw communication and compliance as crucial, but also as being too hard and expensive to fundamentally change in any way from what we were already doing — there simply wasn’t a good ROI argument to justify change,” she says.

Premium joins groups such asAI & FP,Mawson GroupandAustChoice, which signed up to the online business communication and compliance service earlier this year.