Asendium, in partnership with LML Insurance Group, has announced reduced professional indemnity (PI) premiums will be made available to Australian Financial Services Licence (AFSL) holders who use Asendium for their advice production, a move that the duo deemed an “industry-first”.
LML Insurance Group managing director Bryan Leibbrandt has confirmed that any licensee groups engaging Asendium for their compliance product may be eligible for a reduction up to 20 per cent off the insurer’s standard PI rates, which has been arranged and facilitated through LML.
According to Mr Leibbrandt, recent data suggests that PI insurance costs have increased over 75 per cent between 2019 and 2022 and although it is levelling off somewhat with additional capacity coming into the market, certain segments continue to experience premium hikes.
“Attributing factors, such as clients’ risk profiles, fraudulent claims, poor underwriting results and a surge in claims, have seen Australians becoming increasingly litigious,” he explained.
“We see the robust compliance system that Asendium has created as a positive for insurers, because it creates an environment of tangible transparent business processes and procedures with diligent communications and record keeping.”
Mr Leibbrandt added that LML, acting as the broker for the PI insurer, is confident that the advice produced through Asendium will meet compliance and regulatory requirements while lowering their risk of claims.
Commenting on the partnership, Asendium chief executive Scott Miller said: “By leveraging Asendium’s capability to configure compliance wording and frameworks, it allows for guardrails to be inbuilt into Asendium defined at a licensee level.
“At Asendium, our mission is to help every eligible Australian access high-quality, affordable financial advice and to empower the financial planners in doing so. This starts with streamlining the advice production process for financial planners and providing the guardrails for AFSLs to manage their compliance responsibilities with confidence,” Mr Miller concluded.
In May, Asendium also unveiled its partnership with financial advice software business Enzumo in developing a “dynamic” statement of advice (SOA) creation solution.
The firm said that its clients will have access to a detailed and compliant SOA document that is linked to their Asendium account.
It was also confirmed that for those that require a customised option, Enzumo can build and maintain their SOA template through the Asendium platform.
