Adviser software provider True Potential is in talks with six firms about acquiring their businesses and is set to further expand its operations with the opening of a London office.

It said it was offering its Guaranteed Business Exit Strategy (GBES) service to six firms that already use its adviser software.

True Potential has previously stated its intention to become a national IFA through the acquisition of firms looking to exit financial services.

David Harrison, True Potential managing partner, said potential acquisitions would have to be a True Potential client for at least a year so their processes were transferable.

He said he expected more firms to use the GBES service as the retail distribution review (RDR) approached.

‘It’s more designed to come into play next year and the year after,’ he said. ‘A lot of people of panicked about RDR. If you are capable of getting ready and capable of getting qualifications, you should go for it. Or if you are not we will buy you.’

True Potential’s new London office, to open in October, is part of the firm’s ongoing expansion which saw it take on nearly 100 adviser clients in June and July.

Daniel Harrison, senior partner at True Potential, said a London office was important due to the number of clients and customers based in the South East.

‘As we continue our rapid growth it is important that we have an office in the South East and London is one of the key places to be for many reasons,’ he said. ‘The new office will provide a cost-free space where IFAs can meet their clients for meetings and seminars.’

I’m also pleased to say that we get mentioned in there!

Professional Adviser
Maria Merricks
http://www.ifaonline.co.uk/professional-adviser/feature/1728414/top-iphone-apps-business

With over 200,000 iPhone apps to choose from we look at some of the best…

Since the iPhone and its apps were introduced to the market in 2007, the idea of using the concept within a business model has excited organisations worldwide.

Founder of IFA Life, Philip Calvert believes this is just the beginning: “This is a market that will grow and grow and grow. It’s really exciting and offers huge potential for IFAs to improve their own productivity as well as potential for new ways to engage with clients.”

But, with 200,000 apps to choose from however, it is difficult to know where to start. Professional Adviser takes a look…

Business tools:

Scanner Pro:

· Scanner Pro is a handy tool for those meetings with new clients away from the office. Simply point the camera at any required identification documents, click, and the image will be converted into a PDF file, ready to upload, print or email back to the office for instant compliance.

· The app can also be used to document any receipts, business cards and articles or notes for future reference, keeping them all in one place and easy to find.

· Price: £3.99

Dropbox:

· Dropbox enables users to synchronise and share files across multiple computers and devices, meaning advisers will be able to access any documents saved to their desktop computer, on the go.

· Effectively replacing briefcases full of paper and files, Dropbox is useful for any work done whilst travelling and essential for meetings away from the office. Need information, graphs or spreadsheets for a client? Find it on your iPhone and share it with them there and then.

· Price: Free

HT Recorder:

· Perfect for meetings, seminars and conferences, HT Recorder transforms the phone into a handy Dictaphone, eliminating yet another thing for advisers to carry about when away from the office.

· The app records even when the speaker is several feet away. As well as this, it reinforces whispers, skips silences and enables users to email files to colleagues back at the office.

· Price: £1.79

Social Media:

TweetDeck:

· The introduction of smart-phones has meant social networking has sky rocketed, and the business opportunities advisers can take advantage of is a hot topic. Industry commentators agree that the networking, marketing and new business prospects have to be taken advantage of, and are hailing Twitter and Facebook as valuable tools to do just that.

· TweetDeck allows users to update and view their Twitter and Facebook profiles direct from their iPhone, meaning advisers can manage this business tool on the go.

· Price: Free

LinkedIn:

· LinkedIn is the social networking site for professionals, effectively looking to replace face to face networking and business card exchanges. The site enables the users to make contacts, view company and individual profiles and even set up meetings.

· The LinkedIn app means advisers can make use of all of this on the go; ensuring contact with over 70 million professionals worldwide is just a touch away.

· Price: Free

Financial News and Markets:

Bloomberg:

· Bloomberg is a professional’s favourite for news on the world’s financial markets, and its app means it can be accessed anytime, anywhere.

· It provides news, stock quotes, company profiles, market leaders/laggers, price charts and market trend analysis along with a popular customisable homepage, meaning advisers can pick headlines from any market or Bloomberg category of their choice.

· Price: Free

Yahoo Finance:

· The iPhone’s default applications already include Yahoo Stocks, but this upgrade consists of even more.

· Users can navigate to find real-time and after hours stock data, currencies, graphs, statistics and ‘Tech Ticker videos’. It stands out from the crowd with its research section, which enables users to browse broad industry categories, commodities, treasuries and markets.

· Price: Free

Industry:

Fidelity Investments:

· Anyone can download the Fidelity app to chart stocks, research the markets, read the news and maintain a watch list.

· Offering a new way for advisers to engage with clients however, customers have the added ability to trade and manage their accounts. Users can take advantage of the following: track portfolios; trade stocks, mutual funds, ETFs and options; compare stocks and monitor the market with up to the minute streaming news and quotes.

· Price: Free

True Potential:

· Members of IFA service provider, True Potential, have access to this app which offers real time client valuations as well as secure access to data including historic investment performance and fund choices.

· The app has impressed the industry, and AT8’s Mark Loosmore describes it a ‘very useful application and a really nice solution’. Available also to clients, it works towards the belief that advisers need to able to provide their clients with information in a number of ways.

· Price: Free

Dynamic Planner – Risk Profiling:

· Distribution Technology (DT) offers this app to profile client risk and acts as a perfect example of how the iPhone can improve the adviser/client relationship.

· The app, a favourite of Informed Choice managing director Martin Bamford, uses DT’s core ten question psychometric risk questionnaire and provides advisers with a simple and effective way of educating clients about investment risk and risk profiling prior to a meeting.

· Price: Free

Coming soon…

IFA Life:

· The social networking site for financial advisers, IFA Life, is set to release three iPhone apps within the next year.

· Founder Philip Calvert assures the first will be out within the month and will give users the IFA Life ‘experience’ on their iPhone. The second, a consumer facing app entitled Find an IFA, is ‘completely new within the industry’ and the third, to come later in the year “will be groundbreaking for the industry and is ‘top secret’,” says Calvert.

IFA services provider True Potential is to open an office in London’s Victoria this October.

The new office will provide a working location for any of True Potential’s staff as well as their IFA clients, which includes over 600 firms and more than 3,900 registered individiuals (RI).

The Newcastle-based firm, which recently launched its latest iPhone and iPad software for IFAs, now has a 15 per cent share of the UK IFA market after 52 new firms joined its IFA support services platform in June this year.

Daniel Harrison, senior partner at True Potential, said: “As we continue our rapid growth it is important that we have an office in the South East and London is one of the key places to be for many reasons. The new office will provide a cost-free space where IFAs can meet their clients for meetings and seminars.”

True Potential managing partner David Harrison today met with FSA executives to discuss ways to speed up the application process for firms seeking direct authorisation.

The support services provider, which is handling the application process on behalf of new members, says the average authorisation time is approaching six months.

Among Harrison’s suggestions for quickening the process was enabling firms to apply electronically.

True Potential says it has overseen completed applications for 90 firms so far in 2010, but that 197 cases remain pending.

Senior partner Daniel Harrison says: “We need to speed up an application process that used to take six weeks but now takes six months. It is the sheer quantity of applications the FSA is handling.”

As many as 240 advisers previously with censured – and now closed – IFA Park Row are still awaiting re-authorisation, even though the national firm de-authorised them in November last year.

Meanwhile, True Potential says it has turned over more than £84m so far in 2010 and expects to post a figure approaching £130m for the year as a whole.

It says it has recruited 263 firms year-to-date, with a record 52 taken on in June.

Independent wrap Ascentric has integrated its platform with adviser support services provider True Potential.

The amalgamation provides True Potential users with a daily valuation feed of their client’s holdings that are available on the platform.

The tie-up means that True Potential users now have access to up-to-date portfolio valuation information alongside their existing client data when they login to their back-office system.

Richard Goodall, sales and marketing director for Ascentric, said: “This is a great example of how two technologies can combine to provide advisers with a holistic view of their clients. We have a large number of advisers that use True Potential and I am delighted to announce this integration as it will significantly enhance the user experience for both systems.”

Ascentric is an asset consolidation service for independent financial advisers offering a full wrap platform currently unrivalled in the UK.

However, Mike Shaw, managing director Dyfed-based Hedley Asset Management, raised some concerns.

He said: “We’re always looking for ways to improve our service and are constantly bombarded by the latest offering from the likes of True Potential and Simply Biz. The problem for small IFA firms is that it can be difficult to differentiate which offering is best as the goal post keeps moving.

“One IFA firm that I know which uses True Potential said that although it is good, things have to be done its way. We have more of a freestyle approach here so I fear we may find it too constricting for our needs.”

Ascentric has announced the integration of its wrap platform with the adviser support service True Potential.

The integration provides True Potential users with a daily valuation feed of their Ascentric wrap client holdings, and means they can view up-to-date portfolio valuation information next to existing client data when they log on to their back office system.

Mark Henderson, senior partner at True Potential, said: ‘Our users are now able to instantly see a complete view of their client assets, new and old generation, via their computers and on the move via iPhone and other mobile devices.’

IFAOnline.co.uk

Daniel Harrison, senior partner at True Potential, says advisers are moving from national and network propositions to become directly authorised. And he thinks he knows why…

Applications for direct authorisation with the FSA are soaring. Why? In a word: control. Who controls the client? Although this will differ from one company to the next, typically the clients belong to the firm, and not their adviser. This is correct in both the legal sense and also how product providers determine ownership.

The reality is these clients are yours – you are the one with the relationship and you were the one who convinced them of the need to seek sound financial planning. Try telling that, however, to the advisers of Edward Jones who, after being bought by Towry Law, were told to keep their hands off while some were even unfortunate enough to receive legal letters.

More sensible firms will agree to novate clients from the firm into the new DA entity. Bulk novation makes sense for both parties; the IFA has their trail/renewal income instantly switched on and the industry rights are secured, making things such as valuations possible.

It also makes sense for the previous firm as liability for any indemnity commissions passes to the new DA, avoiding any clawbacks. There is a third party here – firms that novate in, but don’t novate out as a cynical attempt to prevent advisers from leaving. Hypocrisy? I’ll leave you to decide that.

Then there is control over ones destiny. Let us look at another failed large firm… more than six months have now passed since Park Row, based on feedback from an external auditor, was closed down by the FSA. And more than six months have passed since any of its 240 IFAs have been allowed to trade properly due to delays with their re-authorisation.

Two points stand out here – how can an external auditing firm create this issue and why should hundred of advisers be made to suffer when many of them have done nothing wrong?

The answer lies with how large firms are now viewed by the regulator. A large firm that applies the same (compliance) standards throughout can multiply an issue by how many advisers (and in turn pieces of advice) are in that firm.

A small firm by its very nature cannot cause the same possible impact to the consumer. This is why it has made perfect sense for the FSA to focus quite heavily on these firms and make sure they are being managed correctly. At ‘best’ this means that advisers have to follow the rule of the lowest common denominator and follow draconian procedures. At worst, the terrible situation that has afflicted Park Row IFAs may prevail.

The answer is to put the adviser in the driving seat by owning the firm and being responsible for their own advice and compliance procedures.

Who is the best person to present to the FSA what has been sold and how the customer has been treated; the compliance manager of a large firm who has never met your clients and has a reputation to uphold (how many compliance managers get another job if they have a bad rapport with the FSA?) or the owner of the small firm who actually met the client, delivered the right advice, is proud of the advice they gave and is confident that his and his firm’s reputation is solid.

A senior partner at True Potential learnt the business working with his father, IFA stalwart David Harrison, and believes advisers can use technology to continue to serve clients across the wealth spectrum after the RDR Interview by Gregor Watt.

At only 29 years old, True Potential senior partner Daniel Harrison has been part of two successful financial services firms. Many people get into financial services as an afterthought but Harrison was actively encouraged to join the new business that his father, IFA stalwart David Harrison, was working on.

Aged 17 and a school-leaver, Harrison was encouraged to take a job as technical support for Harrison senior’s newly established Positive Solutions and work for a year to raise funds for university. Ten years later, Harrison left the firm but only to join the management of new venture – technology and support services provider True Potential.

During his time at PosSol, Harrison saw the company grow from three employees to more than 50 and he took on a variety of roles, from technology and programming to admin and compliance and eventually marketing. He says: “In the early days, there was not much I didn’t do apart from financial. I have always tried to keep away from that dark art.”

Harrison completed his university studies on a part-time basis, fitting his studies around work. “Unfortunately, I never got to sample the proper student life, work got in the way,” he says ruefully.

Following Aegon’s full acquisition of the Positive Solutions business in 2005, the senior management team stayed on to aid the transition to new management but they were already planning their next move into technology.

“We were proud of what we built at Positive and wanted to continue that. When we left, there were 1,800 IFAs making profits of about £;1.25m a month. We handed this well run company over to Aegon making lovely profits for them. But the one thing we noticed was when you join Positive, the IFA became an RI and they have to use the trading styles, etc. What we were finding was that IFAs wanted more independence, they wanted to set their own compliance protocols, they wanted their own brands and there was not much of an argument that we could put up against that.The other reason was that for many years we knew we needed to build a new system from the bottom up.”

Although the new firm was born out of the need for new technology, Harrison says it is more a support services provider than a technology company. Client firms have the option of just using True Potential’s technology but it also offers compliance and other business support.

“We began as a technology platform but have evolved into what we are now. We have handled 253 applications for people going directly authorised. We have around 600 individual IFA firms using us, with about 3,000 individual IFAs, and they are obviously using the technology platform as well as the compliance procedures and the administration and the regulation. We do fall into a funny camp, we are not an Intelliflo but we are not a SimplyBiz.”

The company is clearly doing something to attract IFAs and Harrison reports that the numbers of client firms has been growing exponentially. ByNovember 2009, just over two years after launch, True Potential had 321 client firms but this has grown sharply over the last six months and now stands at 607.

Positive Solutions is its biggest single client but Harrison says new members are coming from the smaller end of the spectrum for IFA firms.

“We find we work best with the smaller firms. The main reason is we are interacting directly with the IFA. The IFA is the business owner, he is also the administrator and often the compliance officer. Because we can interact with them directly, we find it is the best fit for True Potential. We deliberately do not go targeting the big firms.”

Harrison maintains that the RDR should hold few fears for IFAs, even small directly authorised firms, and notes that many of the network and national IFA firms have toned down their scaremongering as the number of advisers either leaving the industry or moving to the protection of a bigger firm has not materialised.

“Some of the national and network chiefs have started to go a bit quieter as they realise that some of what they were saying is countered by hard facts. We have handled 323 new DA applications since January 2009 and, of that, 270 have been since January this year.”

Rather than being apprehensive about the RDR, Harrison suggests that using the right technology can help to bridge the gap that many people are predicting for IFA clients.

He is proud of the firm’s new developments such as apps for the iPhone and iPad that let advisers communicate more efficiently with clients and says this will allow IFAs to continue to serve the less wealthy clients that some advisers suggest will have to be jettisoned because they will no longer be cost-efficient to advise.
“IFAs are starting to realise that if they have got the right tools in place, then actually they do not need to do what some are suggesting and get rid of all their clients except the top 20 per cent. IFAs are saying ’to hell with that, I want to service all my clients.’ If you have the right servicing mechanisms in place, things like the iPhone app and the client website, they audit everything to do with the client. The client can, to a lesser extent, look after themselves, with the IFA acting as the expert.

“Not using technology as a gimmick but as a real enabler for running the business is where the smart IFA will flourish.”

As a result, Harrison says developing new and usable technology remains the firm’s priority. It is already working on a bespoke iPad application for use in client meetings and a brand new version of the core True Potential software. Although the business is only in its third year, this is the fifth version of the core software and Harrison says the business is proud that each version is a brand new programme rather then an old version with a couple of extra pieces bolted on.
“We always try to be at least a couple of steps ahead of what the rest of the industry have.

Born: Gateshead, 1981
Lives: Gosforth, Newcastle-upon-Tyne
Education: Ponteland High School, BA in business and management, Newcastle Business School
Career: 2007-present: senior partner, True Potential; 1997-2007: marketing manager, Positive Solutions
Likes: Rugby, spending time with my wife
Dislikes: Office politics
Drives: Audi S5
Book: A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens
TV programme: The Sopranos
Album: Anything a bit loud with guitars in it
Career ambition: To make True Potential better and work with our IFA clients to help build a new model for financial advice
Life ambition: We won the league last year in my first year as captain of the local rugby team, so the ambition this year is not to get relegated to where we came from. I have got quite a bit of travelling I would like to do, particularly South America.
If I wasn’t doing this I would be…;As a keen snowboarder, I would probably have been a professional skiier or snowboarder

True Potential has been encouraging its clients to refer other IFAs to its services as it looks to expand.

It has attracted 600 IFA firms onto its services proposition and has processed more than 300 to direct authorisation status since its establishment in 2007.

Natalie Holt

True Potential is to launch new versions of its iPhone and iPad applications next month.

The new applications include real time client valuations and secure access to any data that has been stored online, including historic investment performance, fund choices, emails, and financial services products.

Users can also access non-financial documents such as passports and travel insurance documents.

The new Version 2 applications will also be made available for Blackberry and Android devices.

True Potential senior partner Daniel Harrison says: “We are excited to launch our new iPhone and iPad applications and further demonstrate our commitment to stay ahead of the market.  Advisers need to be able to provide their clients with information in a number of ways and mobile applications are becoming more important.

“We won’t stop here and are already looking at what V3 might look like.”