Competition heats up for financial planning mandates

As more superannuation funds look to expand their financial planning offering, the competition between software vendors is also gaining momentum.

This has been evidenced by software firm Decimal issuing a statement warning trustees to take caution when selecting outsource partners and software vendors.

Commenting on his company’s success in delivering a financial advice solution to AvSuper, Decimal chief executive Jan Kolbusz claimed the financial planning software arena was “littered with any number of potential outsource partners and software vendors promising great expertise in certain areas”.

Among the points made by Kolbusz was that superannuation funds would need to make decisions about their future involvement in financial advice and whether they would simply offer limited advice or become “the central financial ‘hub’ for their members’ lives”.

“Superannuation lives in a fluid, post-Cooper, post-GFC, post-Ripoll world,” the Decimal statement said.

“So what happens when these worlds collide?”