CoronavirusMar 17 2020

Advicefront waives fees for IFAs amid Covid-19 crisis

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Advicefront waives fees for IFAs amid Covid-19 crisis

A financial planner-backed firm, which provides technology support to advisers, has waived all fees whilst the industry is forced to work for home during the coronavirus pandemic. 

In a statement today (March 17) Advicefront announced it would waive the cost of all paid licences on its service for the "entire financial advice community" until the end of June. 

José Supico, chief executive and co-founder of Advicefront, said the move was in response to the widespread necessity of home-working during the coronavirus pandemic and would apply to both current and future users of the company's Onboard software. 

Onboard is a risk profiler, fact find and client agreement generator, which is designed to speed up and automate the client on-boarding process

The company, which is backed by several prominent financial planners and in 2018 secured a £1.3m investment round led by technology provider FNZ, offers a range of online advice tools in a bid to help advisers navigate paperwork chores.

Mr Supico said: "The discussions we’ve been having over the last few days, which no doubt mirror your own, have included debates on how best to prioritise the wellbeing of our team, figuring out remote working practicalities and the most useful ways in which we can support IFAs.

"We acknowledge the value of face-to-face advice, whilst working our hardest to make the essential triage and admin parts of the job as quick and painless as possible.

"During the coronavirus quarantines and self-isolations of course face-to-face appointments will be deferred.

"And that’s where we can help keep productivity high by helping you to integrate with other software that you’re using, conduct fact-finds and risk profiling, collect digital signatures and payments, store documents securely and collaborate with clients via free licences during the pandemic." 

Mr Supico said he hoped the fee waiver would allow advisers to "collaborate efficiently from the safety of their homes".

rachel.mortimer@ft.com 

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