The fintech agency Flourish introduced Wednesday the launch of a brand new annuity distribution platform for fee-based fiduciary monetary advisors.
Talking with ThinkAdvisor concerning the information, the agency’s president, Ben Cruikshank, mentioned the platform was constructed from scratch over the previous two years to deal with three key ache factors which have traditionally prevented fiduciary advisors from together with annuities in shopper portfolios. These embrace a burdensome and complex paper utility course of, fee buildings that may battle with a fiduciary method, and RIA insurance coverage license necessities.
“The normal RIA is excellent at managing no matter sits within the inventory and bond portfolio and giving recommendation on that,” Cruikshank mentioned. “The fact at this time is that issues have modified and shopper wants have grown extra advanced — particularly within the areas we concentrate on, that are banking wants and insurance coverage wants. The fashionable shopper has completely different expectations.”
To assist handle this problem, Cruikshank mentioned, Flourish has developed a streamlined digital utility course of with the flexibility for advisors to pre-fill annuity purposes on behalf of purchasers. The platform additionally offers RIA professionals with entry to an outsourced insurance coverage desk, eliminating the necessity for advisors themselves to carry insurance coverage licenses.