Mortgage and protection broker, Access Financial Services, has grown broker numbers by 80% so far this year, it was announced at its second annual conference.
The number of self-employed mortgage and protection advisers in the firm has risen from 100 earlier in the year to 180 now. Access FS has also doubled the number of its head office staff and brought in administrative support for its advisers to enable them to have more client time.
As well at looking back at the year so far at the conference, Access also announced the launch of a new compliance hotline, alongside its ongoing compliance training, to help advisers really understand how to ensure both their mortgage and protection cases are not only compliant but of the highest quality.
Accelerating the culture of writing excellent quality business, CEO Karl Wilkinson (pictured) handed out awards to advisers in the firm who had not had a single lapse in protection business for the whole of this year.
More than 10% of advisers who had been with the firm since January had zero lapses. This means not a single client from those brokers had cancelled a protection policy this year, an outstanding number given that, in some other firms, the number of lapses can be as high as 60%. The aim for next year is to increase the number of advisers with no lapses, join the zero per cent club, an increasing challenge in what could be a tightening market.
All of Access FS’s other broker awards were also focused on compliance and business quality rather than being sales related as is more traditional in other organisations.
Other announcements for the year ahead included a free website for the advisers who would like one, paid for by Access FS and a number of new product offerings to help advisers to generate leads.
Additional good news for protection advisers was that their monthly payments will reduce from December, so they get to keep more of the money that they earn while still benefiting from the same level of training and compliance. Any advisers joining Access will not pay any fees at all for either mortgages or protection for the first four months after they join.
Finally, following the success of the launch of its administrative support for advisers, Access will be building on this by providing paraplanning services in the new year.
Karl Wilkinson, CEO of Access FS said: “The number of advisers wanting to join Access this year has exceeded our wildest expectations. What is better, it is our existing advisers who have been responsible for this growth.
“Our advisers tend to work heavily in their local communities. We have a very collaborative culture throughout Access where our advisers are encouraged to help each other and pass business to one another so they can focus on their individual strengths. This works so well that they then encourage other advisers to join Access to benefit from this unique support system.
“We also launched a regular academy this year to train and bring in people from outside the industry which has been responsible for 38 new people becoming Access FS advisers running their own businesses.
“The thing I am most proud of however is the number of advisers we have selling protection business, with no lapses at all. The need for people to keep their protection policies in place is of paramount importance as we head into a downturn, yet it is often the first thing to be cancelled as people look to save money.
“The fact that so many of our advisers have not had a single lapse is testament to how well the policies are being advised upon, with Access advisers ensuring their clients truly have the right product for their circumstances and genuinely understand their need for what they are buying. “Next year we look forward to continuing our growth, while all the time increasing the value that we bring to the fantastic advisers that make Access FS what it is.”
