Insurance provider BareRock has launched a digital platform offering professional indemnity insurance to regulated financial advice firms.
FTAdviser is to reveal the details of this new PII service at our Financial Advice Forum 2023 today (September 28).
BareRock's service seeks to fix the ‘broken’ PII system, in that it will reward advice firms that can evidence a risk-mitigation approach with fairer and more stable PII premiums.
BareRock was founded by Jonathan Newell, who has 30 years’ experience in PII, along with intermediary compliance expert John Netting and James Adley, previously an underwriter at Lloyd’s of London.
Jonathan Newell, CEO of BareRock, said how he has seen that good advice firms have been unfairly burdened with high PI premiums through “absolutely no fault of their own”.
Our process allows us to separate the good from the bad.Jonathan Newell, BareRock“The legacy PII market has put too much emphasis on product count and industry averages, following a one-size-fits-all approach,” he said.
“Many claims originate from poorly performing advice firms, leaving well manged firms bearing the cost of those ‘bad actors’, through higher premiums. It’s an unfair system and it needs to change, and that’s what we’re doing.”
According to the firm, it will work with firms that can demonstrate robust processes, a culture of responsible conduct, and a track record of consistently delivering positive client outcomes.
“Our process allows us to separate the good from the bad and recognise well-run firms with a tailored PI cover exclusively to them. This new way of working rewards good practice with premiums that accurately reflect risk levels,” Newell explained.
The firm has partnered with five risk mitigation tools which link to a tiered rewards-based membership programme.
The five tools are:
- Analyser from the lang cat, which enables comprehensive and evidenced due diligence and comparisons across the market of investment platforms and MPS providers.
- EV which provides the EV Pro Solver de-risking tool designed to stress-test retirement planning options and assist advisers to confirm suitability for each client.
- Fintegrate which applies individual client risk analysis to compare current investment and platform costs and performance against the firm’s investment proposition.
- Model Office which benchmarks advice firms’ working environment against five regulatory keys (focus, engagement, promise, systems, people) to validate sustainable good practice.
- Money Alive which provides online video resources to help ensure clients receive consistent information about products and advice, with an audit trail of engagement.
Firms using these tools will score more favourably in BareRock’s rating process, leading to discounted premiums.
Its a fully online application, vetting, and issuance process ensures a “hassle-free experience” for advisers, the firm said.
amy.austin@ft.com
