Sunsuper’s recently integrated advice and call centre division will benefit from recently announced changes to intra-fund advice, with the fund already seeing an increase in advice related calls since the service was upgraded.
Sunsuper announced in March that it had merged services previously provided by the fund’s call centre and Member Advice Centre, and would incorporate financial planners from the fund’s On Track retirement planning team.
The integrated advice and service centre, where investors can get general advice in relation to their super, insurance and investments, has experienced a 6 per cent spike in calls since the integration, according to Steven Travis, general manager of member and employer service delivery at Sunsuper.
Extensions to intra-fund advice recently announced by Financial Services Minister Chris Bowen are well suited to Sunsuper’s On Track program, which fits squarely inside that extension, Travis said.
“One of the implications will be that there will be a range of C and D type clients who will be orphaned, who will no longer be serviced by traditional planners where planners will have to justify their service model, so I think those C and D clients will migrate to super funds and look to super funds to provide that advice and fill that gap,” he said.
The changes implemented by Sunsuper were made partially in anticipation of these changes, which Travis viewed as a big tick for Sunsuper’s new advice model.
