Frank Risk Management, an insurance broker known for its “no hidden income” business model, is not just industry-compliant on paper but is heavily invested in training its roster. Chief executive Andrew Newman (pictured) recently sat down with Insurance Business to talk about compliance, investing in people, and ‘the Frank way’.
“We supported all of our staff to get their [New Zealand Certificate in Financial Services] Level 5,” Newman shared. “And it’s not just a case of getting people to Level 5 and just doing the minimum to continue and be compliant.
“We actually do a lot of internal training. We also send staff on external training that we think will benefit them, because we’ve got people in a variety of roles. It’s just if you want it to be a progressive organisation, you’ve got to invest in people.”
Quite literally, Frank Risk did spend to ensure its people were qualified under the new financial advice regime in New Zealand. Newman, however, while he supports the uplifting of credentials, wished there was some sort of flexibility.
The CEO told Insurance Business: “Anything that actually raises the standards within the sector is good, but I think that compliance shouldn’t just be compliance for compliance’s sake. There’s got to be a positive outcome for the client. So, in terms of getting staff to Level 5 and what have you, [there should be] a certain amount of flexibility around it.
“Because if you’ve got very, very well-qualified staff, you want to see them get credit for their existing qualifications and their existing experience. Just actually seeing them going through the ropes was a little bit frustrating. But, generally speaking, if there’s flexibility in the system, if the outcome’s good for the customer, it’s good for everybody.”
While supportive of the change, Newman was concerned about the cost implications for smaller brokerages.
“You’ve got to be aware that it’s adding significant costs to what are actually relatively small businesses,” he said. “We’ve got 35 staff in our business, so it’s a reasonable cost for each staff member. A lot of broker firms are smaller than that.”
All in all, though, the insurance boss believes the transition has gone well.
As for Frank Risk’s disclosed fee risk management and insurance broking, Newman knows it takes a lot of getting used to for those from the traditional side of the fence.
“I think there’s definitely a Frank way,” he told Insurance Business. “And I think that if you asked anybody that came into our firm from a more traditional broker model, they would say that it takes a bit of time to get to our way of thinking.
“But this goes beyond just actually working for a pre-agreed fee – it’s a case of a more holistic approach to what we do for the client... I think that you’ve got to put a proposition to your customer, existing and prospective, that your competitor can’t or doesn’t.”
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