and the upgraded Aviva Platform - aviva.co.uk · and the upgraded Aviva Platform ... l supporting Origo Unipass digital certificates ... Migration Hub on the Communications page

Due diligence and the upgraded Aviva Platform

For financial adviser use only. Not approved for use with customers.

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Due diligenceand the upgraded Aviva PlatformAs an adviser, you need to be confident the platforms you use can support your business in the way you need, both today and in the future. This means thorough platform due diligence is crucial, both at the start and as you continue using the platforms.To help you with due diligence for the upgraded Aviva Platform, we’ve created this guide to:

l give you a summary of the changes we’ve made

l remind you of the key areas of due diligence outlined by the FCA

l help you include all the changes to the Aviva Platform as you carry out broader due diligence work.

We’ve also worked with Ian McKenna of the Finance & Technology Research Centre (F&TRC) to develop the Aviva Platform Comparison Tool. Powered by data collated and managed by F&TRC, this new tool details all the changes we’ve made to the Aviva Platform. You can see all the information clearly; helping you make sure the Aviva Platform is the right choice for your clients. You can find the tool at Aviva for Advisers.

aviva.co.ukDue diligence and the upgraded Aviva Platform

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Ian McKenna, director atFinance & Technology Research Centre says:

‘We are delighted to be working with Aviva, helping advisers see how the Aviva Platform has been enhanced by the move to FNZ, and ensuring that their platform due diligence is contributing to achieving the right outcomes for their clients.’’

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Due diligence and the upgraded Aviva Platform

What’s new?


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Feature Benefits

Investment flexibility

Exchange-tradingGives you a broader range of investment options including equities, ETFs and fixed interest assets. You can carry out real-time trading or set up a limit order to automatically buy or sell exchange-traded assets if a specific price is met.

Bed and ISAYou can now use a combination of assets and cash to fund the ISA and select pro rata, making this a one-stage process. Choose to start a Bed and ISA immediately, or schedule it for the next tax year.

Model portfolios

You can now hold multiple model portfolios in an account, giving you more flexibility when developing investment strategies for your clients. The Managed Portfolio Service fee will only apply to the assets held in a Discretionary Investment Manager model.

Fund maskingAdviser firms can create their own fund panels to use on the Aviva Platform, and mask those they don’t want to use.

Better functionality

Client reportOur new client report has been developed in partnership with FE. It uses transactional data to provide an accurate overview of a client’s portfolio performance, and includes a wider range of performance metrics.

WithdrawalsWe now pay one-off withdrawals for Investment Portfolio and ISA Portfolio and PCLS by CHAPS.

Back office linksWe are enhancing and expanding our back office integration, including extending the availability of our bulk valuations service.

Drawdown merge and convert

You can now merge multiple flexi-access drawdown accounts, to simplify reporting and processing for you and your clients. You can also convert existing capped drawdown accounts to flexi-access drawdown accounts online.

NotificationsOur enhanced notifications will keep you up to date with key events. You can use our default notifications or set up your own bespoke notifications, for instance to let you know when a transfer has completed.

Projections

Model scenarios at both portfolio and account level using current values, without needing to complete a new quote. You can also carry out ‘What If’ modelling, which allows you to see the impact of changing contribution details and advice charges, assets and asset weighting, taking pension benefits, income payments and withdrawals on your client’s account.

Transfer trackerOur new transfer tracker has been designed to save you time by keeping you up to date with the progress of your clients’ transfers.

Easier to use

Simpler journeysWe’ve redesigned our screens to be even simpler and more intuitive to use, saving you time.

Improved efficiency

With ‘signature lite’ you now can simply scan and upload the signature page only of your client declarations, reducing the amount of time it takes to begin processing your requests. We have also removed the need for client’s signatures and the amount of paperwork you need to submit for some processes.

Client accessYour clients will need to register for MyAviva, our online customer service portal, to see a restricted view of their advised Aviva Platform accounts.

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The Aviva Platform: Nine steps of due diligenceIn the following sections, we’ve summarised how the Aviva Platform stacks up against the nine areas of due diligence the FCA suggests platform users might want to consider.


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2 Terms and conditions of using the platform

1 The platform provider

3 Charges

4 The range of funds, tax wrappers and products


5 The range of asset classes

6 Functionality

7 Accessibility

8 Additional tools

9 Support services

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PedigreeThe pedigree of the platform provider is a key factor in the way it can respond to the market, regulatory and technological change. The Aviva Platform benefits from the Aviva group’s financial strength, expertise and other resources.

l The Aviva Platform is rated by AKG as B+.

l Aviva Life and Pensions has an A+ rating from Standard & Poor’s, an Aa3 rating from Moody’s and an AA- rating from Fitch

l Strong awareness of the Aviva brand helps you reassure your clients their money is invested on a platform provided by a well-known and trusted company.

l We’re clear about the types of customers the Aviva Platform is suitable for and how we will develop the platform on that basis. This helps you make sure you have the right combination of platforms to meet the specific needs of your different clients.

l A key part of our long-term strategy proposal is to continue to fund the development of the Aviva Platform, with the aim of ensuring it remains competitive and evolves to meet the changing needs of you and your clients.

l Advisers are central to our long-term UK strategy. We have a network of technical and contact centre staff to help firms get the most out of the platform.

SecuritySecurity is of paramount importance for an online platform, especially one operating in the financial services sector. We take a number of steps to minimise the risks, including:

l using secure email between ourselves and advisers (encrypting the mail itself and any attachments) and document rights management software to ensure data protection

l using mobile security standards and procedures (such as device checking and mobile-specific firewalls)

l ensuring MyAviva registration and access includes a formal authentication process

l supporting Origo Unipass digital certificates

l carrying out mandatory annual testing on all Aviva staff in key areas like data protection, fraud prevention and money laundering

l verifying user identities at all contact centres to make sure we only disclose information to the right people.

Outsourcing platform technologyOutsourcing platform technology to any third party is a crucial decision. We want to reassure you that Aviva carried out its own due diligence before choosing FNZ as its new technology provider.

l Aviva has a great deal of experience in selecting and managing outsourced supplier arrangements across small specialists and large global partners.

l Our rigorous procurement assessment measured a wide range of business, commercial, regulatory and legal factors to make sure FNZ is the right technology provider now, and in the future. This also included a review of FNZ’s long-term global strategy, to ensure this aligned to the key objectives we have for the Aviva Platform.

1 The platform provider

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Terms and conditionsThe terms and conditions for each of the platform products define the legal relationship between the client and the platform. They also outline how the platform will provide information to the client and explain what the client can and can’t do.

Because of this, it’s important that as an adviser you understand the product terms and conditions and that you’re happy they are clear and fair to your clients.

The terms and conditions give information about:

l how we won’t charge your clients to transfer investments in or out of Aviva Platform products. Other providers may do so however and we reserve the right to pass on any third party charge

l how we will communicate change with clients

l the circumstances under which we can change the terms and conditions

l what former clients can do if they no longer have an adviser.

You can find the terms and conditions on our Migration Hub on the Communications page. Once the upgraded platform has launched, you’ll also be able to find them in the product literature library at Aviva for Advisers.

Terms of use/businessThe Aviva Platform terms of business define the legal relationship between you as the adviser and us as the platform provider. They also detail what you as an adviser can and can’t do.

With the terms of business, you must:

l understand these agreements

l be happy that all terms are clear and fair to you.

Platform chargesPlatform charging levels and structures vary widely, which means it’s important for you to understand the platform approach as well as our platform charge rates.

Charges for switching, rebalancing or re-registrations can also have a big impact on the total cost for your clients, especially for actively managed portfolios.

We make all charges associated with investing on the Aviva Platform clear to your clients.

l We believe your clients should only pay for what they use on the platform, so we only charge when you or your clients use an asset or service.

l We don’t charge for transactions such as switching, rebalancing, withdrawals or drawdown. We believe these are core platform functions that allow you to manage your clients’ investments in line with their objectives and attitude to risk.

l We’ve always allowed re-registration both on and off our platform without charging. We do this to ensure re-registration isn’t a barrier to free platform choice

for you and your clients. Other providers may make a charge and we reserve the right to pass on any third party charge.

Handling chargesWe think it’s important to provide flexibility around the other charges associated with investing on a platform. We also want to make it easy for customers to see and understand them. Because of this, we make sure:

l you can set adviser charges easily

l we collect and pay discretionary investment manager charges automatically, and will cover charges by disinvesting proportionally across the portfolio

l you can easily find information about fund and asset charges in the fund research area of the platform, on factsheets, illustrations and statements.


3 Charges

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The platform you choose must have enough asset and wrapper choices to meet the needs of your clients. This is a fundamental part of the due diligence because the choice:

l needs to meet the likely tax and financial planning needs of each customer

l must be able to match individual clients’ attitude to risk and capacity for loss

l may need to support broader centralised investment proposition requirements in areas such as socially responsible and ethical investing.

Exchange-tradingExchange traded instruments (including exchange-traded funds, equities and fixed income assets) are becoming an increasingly fundamental part of advisers’ centralised investment propositions. In response to this, we’ve completely redesigned our exchange trading service. It now includes:

l a wider range of assets

l significantly lower charges

l real-time trading quote and deal and limit orders

l full integration into platform processes and functionality.

This allows adviser firms and discretionary investment managers to use a wider range of assets within model portfolios, without compromising the operating efficiencies achieved by using a platform.

Cash accountAll your client’s cash balances are held in accordance with the FCA’s client money rules. In addition to this and in order to help protect customers’ cash holdings and concentration risks, we’re spreading cash account balances across a panel of external account providers.

We’ll calculate interest monthly on the blended rate across this panel and pass it on to your clients.

Bespoke fund panelsIt’s important for platforms to offer the right flexibility. Because of this, we’ve given adviser firms the ability to specify their own fund panels to use on the platform, masking those that they don’t want to use.

This means an adviser firm can maintain control over the fund and asset range its staff can access in line with the ongoing governance and management of their centralised investment propositions. This also lets us include funds on the platform that the fund manager chooses to make available only to certain adviser firms or distribution groups.

Model portfoliosModel portfolios are now an integral part of many advisers’ centralised investment propositions. It’s important for platforms to provide the right flexibility to meet your clients’ investment needs.

We’ve added functionality to let you auto-rebalance a model portfolio based on tolerance, frequency or a combination of these. This will help you make sure the portfolio stays within asset allocation and risk boundaries in a way that is efficient, robust and repeatable.

4 The range of funds, tax wrappers and products

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It’s essential your chosen platform can deliver your investment proposition to your clients without compromise or exception. To do this, the platform must give you access to a wide range of asset classes to meet the needs of both your individual clients and your centralised investment proposition.

l Aviva supports all the key asset classes across a range of asset types including funds, exchange traded funds (ETFs) and equities.

l We will always use clean share classes without rebates. In some cases, we’ve negotiated super clean terms to benefits your clients. Should you negotiate your own terms with an investment manager, you can set up the investment on those terms through the Aviva Platform.

l We can add funds to the platform based on your requirements; however we complete a robust governance process before adding assets to the platform to make sure all investments are relevant and appropriate. This means you can meet your clients’ needs both through the investment manager and the platform.

This range of investments is available to advisers and discretionary investment managers accessing the platform.

Making sure your due diligence identifies platforms with the right functionality to support how you place and manage clients’ investments will help you realise efficiencies.

We’ve enhanced our platform functionality in a number of areas so that:

l you can set your model portfolio to auto-rebalance based on tolerance, frequency or a combination of these, helping you make sure the portfolio stays within asset allocation and risk boundaries

l our new client report shows the discrete performance of model portfolios and individual assets, helping you demonstrate the performance of different holdings

l you can include ETFs and other exchange-traded assets in model portfolios and in automated and bulk rebalancing alongside funds

l your firm can specify your own fund panels to use on the platform, masking funds and asset ranges you don’t want to use. This helps you keep control over the fund and asset ranges your staff can access, in line with your centralised investment proposition

l you no longer need to get client signatures for a number of key processes, making it easier for you to manage your clients’ accounts, improving both efficiency and the customer experience

l you can use signature lite to submit your client and drawdown declarations online, reducing the amount of time it takes to begin processing your requests

l re-registrations – both on and off our platform – remain free of charge. Other providers may make a charge and we reserve the right to pass on any third party charge.

l our re-registration process meets industry good practice guidelines for being efficient and timely in order to meet your clients’ needs.

5 The range of asset classes

6 Functionality

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Easy and flexible platform accessBeing able to use your chosen platforms in ways that support your business structure and processes is an important element of due diligence. We’ve considered this as we designed our platform services.

l To make it quicker and easier for you to sign on to our platform through Aviva for Advisers, we support both Single Sign On and UNIPASS digital certificates.

l Through Aviva for Advisers, you can see a range of clients’ non-platform life and pensions holdings with Aviva as well as their platform investments.

l Adviser firms with multiple branches, networks and discretionary investment managers can all give information on investments (e.g. updated model portfolios) to specified users through the platform.

Strong securityPlatform access must be easy and flexible, but not at the cost of security. We take a number of steps to minimise the risks, including:

l using secure email (encrypting the mail itself and any attachments) and document rights management software to ensure data protection

l using mobile security standards and procedures (such as device checking and mobile specific firewalls)

l using UNIPASS digital certificates and an online client registration process with password standards and authentication

l carrying out mandatory annual testing on all staff in key areas like data protection, fraud prevention and money laundering

l verifying user identities at all contact centres to make sure we only disclose the information to the right people.

Tools provided by the platform can enhance the advice process and help you demonstrate the value of services you provide.

We offer a number of tools for various functions through the Aviva Platform.

Advice planning supportl Our Fund Centre helps you research funds.

l Our Platform services dashboard gives you access to a wide range of platform marketing information and reports, helping you manage your platform customers and assets.

l Our capital gains tax tool helps you identify your clients’ potential liabilities and plan your advice accordingly.

l Our Tech Centre gives you access to technical information about relevant legislation, regulation and regular financial planning bulletins.

Client reportingThe quality of client reporting is a key factor for advisers, influencing both platform selection and use. We’ve redesigned our client report to help you better

demonstrate the value of your advice and the need for changes, such as portfolio rebalancing. The new look client report will give you:

l richer performance data

l high quality graphics and visuals to help you explain investment performance

l changes in asset weighting, risk and asset/sector exposure.

The new client reporting tool also lets you show your clients the discrete performance of model portfolios alongside all other assets held in a client’s portfolio.

Combined with the flexibility to choose three different sizes of reports, this will help you review investment performance in a way that meets the individual needs of your clients.

Transfer trackerWith transfers now a fast growing area of advice, we’ve added a new transfer tracker facility to help keep you updated with the progress of your transfers.

7 Accessibility

8 Additional tools

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Adviser service and supportAdviser service is a key factor for many advisers in platform selection. We keep a strong focus on our product support by:

l investing in our network of face-to-face and telephony development managers to help them deliver continuously improving support

l giving you access to our platform helpdesk support team who can help with general queries and guidance on navigating the platform

l giving you access to experts in specialist areas through our pensions technical helpdesk, online service helpdesk and platform adoption consultants.

Integration with back office providersMaking sure your chosen platforms can integrate with your back office system is a major contributor to efficiency.

We’ve expanded the range of services we offer platform users:

l an enhanced transaction history bulk file service – initially set up with key back office systems, we will be extending this as more systems can support it

l You can now save relevant documentation such as key investment information documents, fund factsheets and declarations within the back office system as part of the quote and apply process.

These improvements supplement the current services we already offer through the main back office systems for contract enquiry, bulk valuations and e-remuneration statements.

Part of our commitment to the Aviva Platform is that we will continue to develop our services by working with back office suppliers.

Discretionary investment managers (DIMs)Advisers are increasingly using DIMs to support their centralised investment propositions.

On the Aviva Platform, you can:

l easily nominate DIMs to run model portfolios for selected clients

l use platform functionality and flexibility to manage DIM models cost-effectively

l be reassured that DIMs can access a rich suite of management information about the models they run on the platform.

Treating Customers FairlyIt’s important for us to make sure our staff understand and focus on treating customers fairly. That’s true whether their role is around customer service, product design, adviser support or anything that contributes towards the outcome for the customer.

We have training in place to make sure all our members of staff fully understand the principles behind treating customers fairly. That way we can be sure everyone has the principles embedded in their roles.

Customer led propositionWe run a customer-led proposition process to make sure all product launches, changes or developments meet:

l the treating customers fairly principles

l customer standards

l regulatory standards

l commercial standards.

As well as meeting these standards from the start, we also regularly review our products to make sure they continue to meet our customers’ needs.

9 Support services

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Conclusion

We put together this guide and developed the Aviva Platform Comparison Tool with Finance & Technology Research Centre to help you carry out due diligence on the Aviva Platform.We also have our existing material, including our due diligence toolkit, which you’ll have access to once our upgraded platform launches.

If you need any further information please get in touch with your usual Aviva contact.

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Aviva Life Services UK Limited. Registered in England No. 2403746. Aviva, Wellington Row, York, YO90 1WRAuthorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority. Firm Reference Number 145452.

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and the upgraded Aviva Platform - aviva.co.uk · and the upgraded Aviva Platform ... l supporting Origo Unipass digital certificates ... Migration Hub on the Communications page