Online solutions aid compliance

FileInvite, a cloud-based platform for transferring and storing personal information, used for financial advisers' client application forms, has raised more than $1 million in equity funding from New Zealand and Australian investors.

It streamlines the process of requesting, receiving and storing personal information, without the need to use email.

Founder and chief executive James Sampson said collecting multiple electronic files containing the personal information necessary to satisfy the application criteria for a loan or policy is time consuming and added cost and delay to the approval process.

He said it would be helpful for advisers to have good documentation systems under the new financial advice environment, in which all financial advisers will have to meet record-keeping and suitability requirements.

“Email is a poor method of transferring documents securely,” he said. “In the US there  are penalties for advisers who don’t transmit documents securely, New Zealand will follow suit, I’d imagine.”

Having information stored on-site, such as in email programs, left it vulnerable to being lost, he said.

He aid FileInvite worked seamless for advisers who needed to collecting information from their clients. They could set up a template to send out disclosure information and AML checklists as part of an automated process.

It would also chase up information advisers were waiting for.

Barry Read, of compliance and training firm Strategi, said adviser businesses would always be looking for tech solutions that would provide efficiencies in service provision.

“Any tools that help facilitate the sharing of data and or information in a safe and secure way will be valuable.  The new regulatory regime won't be imposing any new requirements that don't currently exist under the Financial Advisers Act requirements for care diligence and skill.  Evidencing the advice processes and record keeping have been and always will be important.”