The integration of two of products, FE CashCalc and FE Analytics, will assist financial advisers with consumer duty regulations, FE Fundinfo has announced.
According to FE Fundinfo, this integration will mean that those that have a license for both products will be able to streamline the financial planning process and avoid the need to have to move between multiple systems when conducting investment research and cashflow planning.
It said this will help financial advisers navigate the "plethora of new rules and regulations" that consumer duty brings when it comes into force by allowing them to utilise the technology and data to help them evidence their consumer duty requirements.
This integration is the latest step forward for the company, following developments made in 2022, that gave users the ability to import a plan's latest valuation and holdings data into FE CashCalc.
That upgrade meant advisers can store fund data, fund values, and fund codes within their FE CashCalc accounts and now, thanks to the current integration, can start utilising this "rich data" if they have already connected to their back office systems.
Stephen Mitchell, head of adviser product strategy at FE Fundinfo, said: “The integration of two of our key products has been a high priority for us and it's great news that we are now seeing the fruition of the many hours of hard work that have taken place behind the scenes.”
Mitchell also stated that integrating technology has typically topped the wish list of many financial adviser surveys in recent years, and so the integration can “really help” to streamline the process that financial advisers have to go through and make it a more efficient way of working
“This is a great step-forward for us but not the final destination,” he continued, “we will continue to work hard to ensure our products remain market-leading as well as adaptive to the ever changing processes and procedures that financial advisers must navigate during their work.”
This announcement comes after research from FE Fundinfo found that 90 per cent of financial advisers believe integrations between software providers were important to their financial planning process but only 28 per cent said they currently have an active integration between their FE CashCalc account and back-office system.
tom.dunstan@ft.com
