National advice and employee benefits firm Jelf Group is planning to ramp up its remote advice service in anticipation of increased demand as the pension freedoms kick-in this April.
In its latest set of accounts, the firm stated that one area of focus for the next 12 months was to launch “a remote advice service to generate adviser charges for clients where fund-based commission is potentially at threat from the sunset clause in April 2016”.
Lee Coles, head of money after work at Jelf Group, explained to FTAdviser that the focused advice service will initially be rolled out to existing clients, but as the rules changes become bedded in, it will look to win new clients interested in discussing their retirement options.
“This is a combination of two existing strategies really - converting those clients still on commission-based services in the run up to next April over to a more well-defined agreement, while also looking at the opportunities that come out of the pension freedom changes.”
Depending on the popularity of the telephone and online-based service, Jelf will use its current network of advisers, along with paraplanners, graduate trainees and corporate advisers from the employee benefits division.
Mr Coles could not give any further details on exact pricing structure, but did say that it is likely to cost less than face to face sessions; adding that things would still depend on the eventual work that the customer needs and wants to be done.
The news comes on the day a specialist due diligence firm set up by a former adviser told FTAdviser it is planning to roll out a review service for D2C platforms, to allow firms to retain contact with clients they might otherwise be unable to service after the sunset clause comes in.
peter.walker@ft.com
