Financial advisors are now able to obtain, using cellphone SMS technology, a summary of clients` policies across 12 companies within minutes.
Financial services exchange Astute, an industry initiative owned by Old Mutual, Liberty Life and Sanlam, on Friday announced the launch of AstuteSMS, which allows intermediaries to access client information (provided they have a client mandate) through a cellphone.
Astute MD Biddie Biddulph says the new solution is not aimed at the company`s current market, but at the lower end, where people are working in rural areas and other places with limited communications infrastructure.
Astute`s three shareholders launched the company five years ago, recognising a need for financial advisors to obtain client and product information speedily, whereas until then it could take up to three weeks. Regulatory requirements also called for an online service.
Companies providing online portfolio information through Astute are Old Mutual, Sanlam Life, Liberty Life, Momentum Life, Sage Life, Metropolitan Life, Capital Alliance, Discovery Life, Liberty Active, PPS Insurance Company, Sanlam Collective Investments and Old Mutual Unit Trusts.
Biddulph says the system is secure. "During the past five years there has been no intrusion into the Astute system," he adds.
Stewart Robinson, a director at Utext, which developed the SMS solution, says any intermediary registered with Astute and who has a mandate from the client can now access the information via a cellphone using the client`s name and identity number.
The information is summarised and sent back to the cellphone within two to three minutes. A full report can be sent simultaneously either to an e-mail address or fax.
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