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Atlas Outsourcing Pty Ltd has a proven track record of being fully committed to ensuring equity and justice across all corporate activities aligned to contemporary worldwide expectancies.

As such, the company’s corporate governance division has prepared a corporate Modern Slavery Policy which has recently been sanctioned by the Atlas Outsourcing Board.

This policy covers all that the company will accomplish, companywide training and development, and corporate wide expectations. The policy incorporates industry wide probabilities and is fully compliant with universal human rights mandates.

Atlas Outsourcing is a specialist Financial Planning Outsourcing Solution that teams with financial planners and licensees. Atlas Outsourcing provides paraplanning and back office support capabilities.

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Diverger has partnered with Atlas Outsourcing to provide virtual administration and paraplanning services to its client network through a network of staff in the Philippines.

Diverger said the move was in line with its vision to be the market-leading service provider to financial advisers and accountants, with each overseas staff degree-qualified and employed by Atlas.

Nathan Jacobsen, managing director of Diverger, said: “The number one challenge facing practices, following growing demand for advice and significant regulatory complexity, is simply getting through the work.

“After conducting a market search, we have chosen Atlas as a quality provider and great cultural fit with our staff and clients. At Diverger we are advocates for flexibility and therefore delighted to be providing our network with more service choices in how they choose to operate.”

The dealer group said the outsourced service would complement and work alongside existing paraplanning and administration services operating across the Diverger network. There were already three clients onboard and nine practices were in discussion.

Atlas Outsourcing managing director, Jason Cutrupi, said: “We are excited about this new partnership with Diverger who are one of the leading organisations in the financial services industry.”

“Atlas believes there are a number of synergies with both organisations, and we look forward to providing great value and assistance to Diverger’s accounting and adviser community.”

By Liam Cormican | Money Management | Read Article

Atlas Outsourcing today announced the appointment of Ms Georgia Rietveld who joins their professional services within the paraplanning team.

Ms Rietveld brings to Atlas Outsourcing Pty Ltd extensive experience within the Australian superannuation and financial services sector. Her multidimensional skill sets include overarching commitments to compliance and strategical approaches to ensuring high quality outcomes.

Ms Rietveld’s previous high-level experience within the employment services industry brings a much-needed dimension to the already diverse expertise within the Atlas Outsourcing team.

Ms Rietveld joins the existing multitalented paraplanning team supporting the rapid growth of the organisation aligned to ongoing rapidly increasing demand.

Read more: www.atlasoutsourcing.com.au/about

When Jason Cutrupi built an outsourcing model to support his AFSL, he didn’t imagine that this would eventually turn into a successful business in its own right. With more than 20 years’ experience in the financial planning sector, Jason’s vision enabled him to identify a gap in the market, creating a service for advisers wanting to outsource their paraplanning and administration. Jason shares his thoughts on how the advice industry has changed and future opportunities for the sector.

How did Atlas Outsourcing come about?

I ran my AFSL for around 17 years, up until 2019. While I was building this business, I also identified a gap in the market. I found that, as a smaller AFSL, I could only have so many resources to support the business. When one person would leave, there would be a period that we were less productive as I needed to recruit and train the replacement, and because of the technical nature of the job, it was quite an investment to have them trained to the level we needed. To help bridge that gap, I built a team offshore that meant that I could have continuity of resources, with many people available that were trained and understood the role they had to do.

Outsourcing is about business continuity

When it comes to outsourcing, that’s one of the things to remember. It’s not necessarily about saving the dollar (though there may be some savings there). For me, it has always been about business continuity; if people left, I didn’t need to retrain and do a whole lot of other things to get people up to speed. Instead, I was able to rely on others that already had the background and training, so there was no impact on my clients’ experience.

I built the business with my business partner to support my AFSL. And when we had the outsourced support team running smoothly, I realised that this was a service we could offer to other advisers moving forward.

What have been the significant changes you have seen impacting the financial planning industry?

One of the most significant changes has been on the compliance side of things. When I initially started, compliance was not that onerous, and it was relatively easy to manage in the background. But, over time, compliance obligations continued to grow, requiring more of my time and taking me away from what I wanted to be doing, which was spending time with clients.

I also think that technology has come a long way since I started, enabling you to put more processes in place. But technology is also a double-edged sword. To get technology to the way you want takes time. Technology’s great, but the myth about plugging it in and everything working is all a myth. You need to build it. There’s also an integration piece you need to manage with your legacy systems, and then if something with more potential comes along, you have to work out how you can integrate that too.

What are your thoughts on the future of outsourcing?

Outsourcing in the financial planning sector has increased significantly. I think accountants were the pioneers of outsourcing; they’ve done it for many years. As the admin beast continues to grow with financial services, for example with increasing compliance requirement, and the need to build the backend systems to support the changes, I think financial planners are beginning to embrace outsourcing opportunities.

You can’t outsource the client relationship

When it comes to outsourcing for financial planners, the only area you can’t outsource is the client relationship – spending time with the client and providing them advice. The rest of it is an administration function to some degree.

For people considering outsourcing, what are some of the questions they should be asking potential partners?

An adviser needs to sit down and decide what they want and what they don’t want to do. They can then look at that list and determine what they can outsource. As part of this process, it’s essential to decide on what your strengths and weaknesses are. And when you know what your weaknesses are, you can outsource them.

Choosing outsource partners can be difficult, but if you’re with a licensee, discuss with the licensee your desire to outsource as they may already have recommended providers. You can also talk to other advisers to see who they use.

Doing your research is important

I think doing your research is very important. You want to ensure that your provider ticks off on all your values and requirements. Just because one adviser uses someone, it doesn’t mean that provider will work for you.

When you are looking at outsourcing partners, it’s essential to look at their track record. How long they’ve been doing this? Do they have all the right insurances in place? Who is the management team of the provider? What are their backgrounds?

Another area to look into is the governance aspect, which is very important. Look for things like whether they have compliance certifications in place, like ISO 27001 and data security protocols.

And what are your tips for maintaining successful partnerships with outsourcing providers?

Like any business relationship, the critical thing is to communicate with them often. Think of them as a part of your business and keep those communication lines open. Ensure that your communication with your outsourced provider is unambiguous and concise. As advisers, we can tend to be a little bit vague and assume that people understand what you’re talking about, so make sure that they know your requirements so they can deliver to those in the way you want.

It’s also vital that you listen to the outsource provider’s feedback because they may see something that you don’t; they have the advantage of looking at things with fresh eyes. They may see some of your processes that may need a bit of tweaking, and they can be vital to helping you with that.

Finally, how do you see the financial advice landscape changing in the future?

We’ve seen that the demand for advice has not declined, it’s only become more robust. So, I think there are enormous opportunities there. With advisers getting more transparent on the cost to serve, I believe that client demographics will change. Part of that is because there is greater accountability on the advice that’s provided.

Read article | Centrepoint Alliance

Atlas Outsourcing Pty Ltd is excited to announce its alliance with Morningstar Australasia Pty Limited, an Australian subsidiary of Morningstar, Inc. (Nasdaq: MORN), a leading provider of independent investment research.

This arrangement enables Atlas Outsourcing Pty Ltd to gain access to Morningstar’s PayLogic software, a revenue reporting solution that will support Atlas Outsourcing Pty Ltd Licensees to support Licensee revenue processing utilising the PayLogic software.

As part of the arrangement with Morningstar, firms using Atlas Outsourcing Pty Ltd for back office revenue management support, may qualify for an introductory discount on PayLogic. This agreement continues to support the ongoing commitment to excellence and innovation underpinning all that Atlas Outsourcing Pty Ltd achieves.

Atlas Outsourcing Pty Ltd is a specialist Financial Planning Outsourcing Solution that teams with Financial Planners and Licensees. Atlas Outsourcing Pty Ltd provides Paraplanning & Back Office support capabilities.

About Morningstar Australasia Pty Limited and Morningstar, Inc.

Morningstar Australasia is a subsidiary of Morningstar, Inc., a leading provider of independent investment research in North America, Europe, Australia, and Asia. The company offers an extensive line of products and services for individual investors, financial advisors, asset managers, retirement plan providers and sponsors, and institutional investors in the debt and private capital markets. Morningstar provides data and research insights on a wide range of investment offerings, including managed investment products, publicly listed companies, private capital markets, debt securities, and real-time global market data. Morningstar also offers investment management services through its investment advisory subsidiaries, with approximately USD $205 billion in assets under advisement and management as of June 30, 2020. The company has operations in 27 countries as of June 30, 2020. For more information, visit www.morningstar.com/en-au/company.

Atlas Outsourcing today announced the appointment of Ms Soula Cargakis to the company Board. Ms Cargakis will hold the position of Non-Executive Board Member to commence on September 1st, 2020.

Ms Cargakis brings to Atlas Outsourcing over 30 years of experience in the wealth industry in multi-faceted roles subsequently developing a unique and extraordinary knowledge and multifarious skills sets across the diverse areas of the Australian Financial Advising sector.

Her extensive erudition is supported by her professional career association in a senior capacity with Australia’s leading community of financial advisers, Centrepoint Alliance, a nationally renowned entity in the Financial Advising Industry.

Ms Cargakis joins the existing multi-talented Board who have been responsible for bringing the organisation to the forefront in supporting the Australian Financial Advising sector and achieving significant advances in the company’s unique and contemporary approaches.

As the company continues to rapidly expand, Ms Cargakis will bring a skill set that will complement the company’s aims and objectives.

Read more: www.atlasoutsourcing.com.au/about

Here at Atlas Outsourcing, as part of our commitment to excellence in all that we do and achieve, we are constantly reviewing our products and services to ensure we are not only contemporary, but also strongly aligned to the ever changing requirements and expectations of the Australian Financial Advising industry.

Atlas Outsourcing is pleased to announce the launch of an exciting new initiative, ‘Atlas Onshore Paraplanning Services’ to commence on the 15th of August 2020.

We believe this will not only complement our current offshore offerings, but also provide opportunities and alternative models for our clients. We understand as an adviser you may wish to make choices based on your own business model and client needs. To that end Atlas is now able to provide you with those choices, whether you utilise Atlas Outsourcing with its onshore paraplanning or offshore paraplanning options.

We are fully committed to provide Advisers outstanding quality options. With the launch of this innovative approach of our onshore offerings, Atlas will be one of the very few outsource providers in Australia that is able to provide you with the choice of paraplanning services to be conducted either onshore or offshore.

For any of our new or existing clients selecting our onshore offering, this will require all such requests to only be conducted to an Atlas Outsourcing onshore contact. This will mandate that all data therefore remains within Australia and your SOA is fully completed by an Australian paraplanner located here in Australia.

If you have any questions, I look forward to hearing from you and please visit our website for any further information www.atlasoutsourcing.com.au or please contact me at chloe@atlasoutsourcing.com.au for any enquiries.

Atlas Outsourcing is all about choices and excellence in all that we do.

Mr. Cutrupi, who runs a Manila and Bangkok-based outsourced paraplanning service for Australian financial planners, said larger financial institutions providing advice have already moved down this path, but smaller planning groups have resisted the move.

“The big banks have been doing this for years and smaller practices have opportunities to reduce their costs and increase their productivity and savings,” he said.

“Even if a planner is aligned with an institution they are still running their own business and could consider outsourced services for their business.”

The Future of Financial Advice (FOFA) Reforms have highlighted the distinction between planning and paraplanning skill sets, according to Mr. Cutrupi, who said outsourced services would make planners more efficient at engaging in client-facing tasks.

“There are still bottlenecks in the creation of statements of advice which are causing delays for planners in providing advice to their clients, but outsourced services allow them to be turned around in a few days, without costing the adviser any of their own time,” Cutrupi said.

At present Cutrupi supplies paraplanning, statement of advice creation and risk insurance pre-assessment services to 35 boutique planning groups. He uses staff trained to Australian standards operating out of an office in Bangkok, and recently opened an office in Manila.

He said both offices are headed by Australian financial planners who have gained Certified Financial Planner status and oversee 12 staff operating from the two locations.

Mr. Cutrupi said the business was still growing even though it was not advertising for clients. He predicted the uncertainty around Fee Disclosure Statements and the requirements of FOFA would likely generate further business.

Finance and investment administration provider Wealthtrac has launched a back-office administration service for boutique advisory firms.

The outsourced administration service was developed in conjunction with Jason Cutrupi of Atlas Outsourcing, who has established a back office for his own planning business in the Philippines.