North improves advice and practice efficiency

Australian investment platform, North, has announced it has integrated two new capabilities to assist advisers in providing better retirement solutions for clients and improve the efficiency of advice practices.

North has introduced a more streamlined and time-saving Record of Advice (ROA) preparation process for advisers, to enhance data accuracy and easily identify the effects of investment switch transactions.

This enhancement makes North one of the only platforms with the ability to administer same-day switch transactions, as the new process contains pre-formatted tables and charts with details of current and potential investment holdings alongside a fee summary, portfolio valuation and asset allocations.

Clients’ proposed target risk profile can also be included by advisers when making an investment switch, and potential asset allocation can be directly compared against the risk profile to determine its alignment with the client’s investment strategy through one touchpoint in North, eliminating the need for external software or templates.

These enhancements come as AMP data found approximately one quarter of advisers using the North platform create an ROA when performing a switch.

North also updated its MyNorth Lifetime Super Calculator to ensure advisers can help clients boost their retirement savings with informative recommendations on how to best leverage Age Pension benefits and Centrelink Asset Test discounts, as well as how to best structure capital in the accumulation phase in preparation for retirement.

“North continues to invest in its award-winning wrap platform with a steady stream of new enhancements. We work closely with advisers to ensure North provides functionality which makes the most meaningful difference to how they operate their practices and deliver advice,” Edwina Maloney, AMP’s Director of Platform, said.

“It’s why we’ve prioritised an uplift to the ROA process – because we know it makes a significant difference to practice efficiency and allows advisers to spend more time with clients.

“Our enhanced MyNorth Lifetime Super Calculator also adds further capability to what is already a game changing solution and will further help advisers achieve the best possible retirement outcomes for their clients.”