In this episode of the FPA Podcast, Samantha Clarke of Advice RegTech joins Ben Marshan, Head of Policy, Innovation & Strategy, FPA to discuss technology including Fintech, RegTech and innovation. This episode is CPD accredited.

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Transcript

Interviewer: Ben Marshan

Interviewees: Samantha Clarke

Ben Marshan:

Welcome to the FPA podcast. I’m Ben Marshan, I’m the head of policy strategy and innovation and I’m really excited today that the topic of today’s podcast is technology. We’re going to talk FinTech, we’re going to talk innovation. We’re going to talk Reg Tech. We’re very lucky today to have Samantha Clarke from Advice RegTech with us today. And I’d like to introduce Sam. Sam, do you want to introduce yourself and tell us a little bit about you and your company?

Samantha Clarke:

Hello, my name is Samantha Clarke. I’m the CEO and Co founder of Advice RegTech, which has the compliance technology solution called SAMI, which stands for Supervision And Monitoring Intelligence, and it’s my pleasure to be here today with Ben on the FPA podcast. Thank you so much.

Ben Marshan:

Welcome to the FPA podcast, Sam. We’ve known each other for quite a while. I came to the FPA and the Policy role and you were in a similar position at AFA. So, I thought I might just ask you quickly, do you miss Policy? Can you talk to us a bit about what you did over at AFA and where you’ve pivoted to now?

Samantha Clarke:

I really enjoyed the time in Policy. Because as you know as well, it’s really exciting being on the bleeding edge of every discussion with the parliamentarians and lobbying on behalf of the industry of financial planners to make sure that the outcomes are the best for the planners, the consumers and really work for society as well. And keep raising the professionalism of our industry. So yeah, I absolutely miss that part of it. But as you know, it’s super crazy hours, and lots of interesting characters with very different opinions across all spectrums of politics.

So, kudos to you, Dante and the team for all the work you’ve done over the last few years that I’ve been out of that side of the industry. That said, I’ve moved now, as you know, into the regulatory technology side. So, I’ve used all of that knowledge and the insights around the legislation and the regulations and the insights that are important for raising the professionalism of our industry and ensuring best interest duty to consumers. And baked that into technology to help improve the cost, lower the cost of advice, improve the efficiency for planners and enable the industry to be much more efficient and actually compliant by design. Rather than be burdened by all of these requirements and obligations that are an everyday part of our industry.

Ben Marshan:

I love the technology play because it helps me get my head out of 300 pages of legislation, regulation and all the change is going on. And so, I love that you’ve pivoted from this advocacy role that we had and thinking about the future to how do we get real solutions on the ground to financial planners to make that real difference in their clients lives. And I think, that’s why we get on so well. It’s because we’ve both got this interest in technology and in advocacy. In making the pivot to technology, and away from advocacy, because that’s what we’re here to talk to about today, how do you see technology, both as an enabler of assisting planners provide more advice, more efficient advice, more engaging advice to consumers, but also as a disruptor of that financial advice process? What have you observed going into the technology side of things?

Samantha Clarke:

It’s been really interesting, especially over the last few years that we’ve all been impacted by COVID times. And that’s actually been a huge boost I think, for everyone in society to actually learn how to use technology better. How many parents and grandparents out there had never heard of Zoom, and now all of a sudden, they’re video meeting experts. I think now technology is just pervasive. It’s a little bit like how Google Maps has become, in navigating and getting places in your car. So, in the old days when the parents and grandparents used to have debates in the car around how to get somewhere, and opened up the old Gregory’s road map. These days, it’s just embedded and part of what you do to get where you need to go.

It’s the same with technology in our industry. So, it’s becoming an embedded part of enabling the efficiency of fact finding and developments of the Statements of Advice and complying with the obligations. And at the regulatory technology end making sure that prevets of the files, all of the advice files, not just the SOA, but all of the elements have been cross-checked and made sure that they’re compliant by design at the prevet stage, before they even get issued to consumers to really save on that time wasting, of having to deal with issues and remediation after the event. Much better to get it right first time.

So, technology has become an absolutely critical and more important part of everyday planners lives. And it has been a little challenging for some groups to go, ‘this is a bit of a cost, or a bit of a hassle, or a bit of a time to learn new skills, just with any anything new.’ But really quickly over the last year, we’ve seen so many people just embrace this and say, ‘Oh, this is so much a better way’ because they’re not dealing with all of the audits, and the remediation and the corrective actions after the event. They’re getting on top of it straight away. The bar is raising. The professionalism we’ve talked about, and have really aspiredto over the last few decades in the industry is just happening now, thanks to technology.

So, it’s really exciting, and I’m really passionate about embedding it into the everyday processes. Not just the advisers, but their support staff, their AFSL compliance people, the more traditional old fashioned auditors as well, are starting to embrace faster, better, more efficient ways of doing things. Traditional technology platforms are starting to embed more time saving, and integrated aspects. The best technology companies, and I’d like to put mine in that as well at Advice RegTech, actually integrate with all of these platforms as well. So, I know for us we’re ingesting millions of documents each week. Know that they’re in secure platforms, which is the key. Data security and protection of this important data so that consumers and advisers can be very confident that they’re getting the compare and contrast, and the inbuilt compliance and the compliance vault, just as part of how they do business. They don’t need to stress about it, it’s just embedded in what they do.

Ben Marshan:

I like to come back to that, as well. But I think the essence of what you were saying, and it’s probably pertinent, again, to when we were working together, you were at AFA and I was at FPA. When I was making the transition into FPA, the conversation was all about robo-advice. And the robots are coming to take over our jobs. We would be replaced by robo-advice, consumers or any new technology. Whereas, what we’ve actually seen over the last five, six years is that technology is providing, engaging efficient, more cost effective solutions to actually facilitate the job of being a financial planner to the client. All the way from, how do we collect the information, to how do we educate clients, to how do we produce advice documents, to where you specialize in the compliance and the review of the file. And making sure that what goes out the door is compliant.  Where the worry was hasn’t come to fruition. But the advantage is the same place. But where the challenge has been has been the integration point. And technology wasn’t over the last five years necessarily integrating well together. But from your perspective, how are you seeing that integration piece play out now between the different bits of technology?

Samantha Clarke:

So, integration is key. When any planner or AFSL is looking at technology platforms, they’re wanting to look at those, I’d suggest, that can integrate, or are integrated already with other platforms. So, I know at Advice RegTech, that’s a lot of what we do every day. We have integrations that enable automatic, overnight feeds of data every single night. So, when the advisers and the people doing the prevets, whether they’re para-planners, advisers self checking, or the compliance professionals in the firms, they know they’re getting immediate access to relevant information on the client file.

It automatically filters for their key documents that they need to review, and in many cases, pre processes those as well. So, yes, integration is key. But it’s not just integration, it’s the extra processing that goes around it. Because it’s all about efficiency. So how can firms in our industry tap into these types of technologies, and get on with the business of actually speaking to clients, and helping to deliver great quality advice.

Ben Marshan:
Is that where you say the main advantage to FinTech and RegTech is the efficiency that they can provide to the business? Or is it somewhere else?

Samantha Clarke:

So yes, efficiency. But primarily, why are we doing all of this? So as an industry, we’re highly regulated. There’s, as we’ve seen in all the recent industry forums, the legislation and the acts are being rethought by the higher powers, and because it is so complex. So, the benefit of these technologies is it takes a lot of that complexity and bakes it into prompts, and solutions, and things to check. So, that not everyone has to be like you and me, Ben, and carry all this legislation in our heads, that it just bakes it into that technology. So, yes, it’s about compliance and quality of advice. But increasingly, as you say, it absolutely is about efficiency as well. Because there are some systems out there that promise efficiency. But if they’re not baking in a lot of these compliance requirements, well they can be quick and low quality. So you want quick and high quality as well.

Ben Marshan:

So the FPA has a lot of resources around FinTech, and technology, and designing advice processes out, and then finding technology. Where else are other good places that… Because you’re coming from the other side, obviously. So you’re looking to make sure that people understand that Advice RegTech is there and what it does. Where are you seeing the engagement that planning businesses can have with FinTech? So that they can start to find out what’s out there, and how it might help their business.

Samantha Clarke:

I own and run with my team at Advice RegTech, our SAMI compliance platform. That said, it’s in my DNA to continue to support the whole industry. So, I’m very active as an advisory committee member on the RegTech Association run by Deborah. So, she and her team of people have some amazing RegTech, FinTech solutions. So, RegTech is essentially FinTech from a financial planning perspective, that is, business to business in most cases. So, there’s an amazing directory of FinTech, RegTech’s at the RegTech Association, also FinTech Australia. FinTech Australia, the members there tend to be more coming up with consumer facing solutions. Whereas our industry and financial planning really continues to need really good business to business solutions that are efficient to help them both engage with clients as well as run their business. So, yes, I’d encourage people to look at the RegTech Association, as well as the FPA guides, absolutely, of course. And there’s great groups out there, and, I’m not in any way getting any benefit from sharing these names.

Samantha Clarke:

I’ve seen over many years of being involved in the RegTech Association, groups like GRC have great compliance training, groups like Arctic Intelligence have amazing compliance training and software that keeps organizations in good state when it comes to AML and CTF type concerns. Skyjed is another one on product disclosure statements. So, there’s some really exciting things not just related to compliance of advice files, but also as it impacts AML and CTF. And as it impacts the training of how to become better at passing the FASEA exams, etc. So, a lot of great firms out there to tap into.

Ben Marshan:

There is a lot of places to go to, that I think, to your point, the associations are a great place that amalgamate different bits of technology. To your point, RegTech’s probably more focusing on compliance and the delivery of advice. The FinTech Association, as you said, is probably a little bit more consumer focused solutions there. But there are a lot of great resources around how you can find technology. What are businesses that you’re working with doing really well in, I mean, not just identifying your business as a good place, as a good solution to use.

What are you seeing good businesses do to identify that they need a technology solution, find the right technology solution, and then make sure the technology solution is embedded into their advice process and their business well, so that they’re not spending money on technology that doesn’t do what they need it to do and is effectively just a waste of money for the business. Versus those businesses that don’t do that kind of preparation and don’t get themselves ready. And therefore, buy technology, and they become disappointed and jaded by the whole process?

Samantha Clarke:

So, we’re finding the firms that actually get the most benefit out of technology, usually have a dedicated commitment to this. So, it doesn’t necessarily mean full time roles committed to testing these types of RegTech and FinTech technologies. But it means a person who actually has that as part of their job description, or deliverables for the quarter, or half year, or the year, both on the IT side, as well as the business side. So usually, we find the best engagements are those where the CEO or the Chief Operating Officer are involved in assessing and doing due diligence across a number of like-type vendors. And then as a result of that, they then prepare a shortlist on certain criteria. And you want to look for, and you’ve got lots of resources on this as well, in terms of what to look for in a vendor, to look for experience and substance, and not just someone that’s come to you with a sales effort to get you to try something. So, look for those that are respected and experienced in their space, and in their niche. I’d say, don’t always default to assuming that the big guys know best, actually. Because we’re finding in this industry, there’s a lot of, like in advice, a lot of specialist areas of expertise, that as long as they integrate well with each other, and that’s increasingly not a concern to worry about, but just check in with them, to make sure that they integrate well. If they’re specialists in what they do, you want to get the best of the specialists, I’d say. So we’re finding a lot of firms these days, whereas in the past, they might have defaulted to the big firm, better the devil you know. These days, the smart firms are going well, who are the best providers to help solve whatever the business pain point is that’s critical for that particular AFSL. And then they just make sure they all link together. So, they require those vendors to link together with minimal effort from their part. Also to go through the pilot process as well. So I’d suggest if you are going to do a pilot with any particular technology firm, be willing to put some contribution towards that. Because of course, if something’s free, you’re not going to get the best outcome usually. Because if people aren’t being paid, just like on the advice side as well, as an adviser, if you value your services, then people should expect to pay for that initial setup and testing.

Also look for, in a pilot type arrangement you’re doing with any vendor or vendors, make sure that they are designed to not just be used for that pilot period and then thrown away and you have to restart. During the pilot, if you’re committed to these types of technology solutions, then require of your technology companies that they build a solution that can then be turned on as soon as they’re ready to move it into the production phase. And I know that’s what we do at Advice RegTech. So we approach all of our pilots as essentially a pre production effort, so that as soon as the AFSLs are ready to commit ongoing, then they’ve got a production ready solution that they can implement easily into their business in an integrated way.

Ben Marshan:

I think, for members who are thinking about looking at technology solutions, one of the resources we did make available was a FinTech Buyer’s Guide and Checklist, which we actually worked with technology providers primarily on because they were also on the other side seeing financial advice businesses coming and saying, “Alright, we would love this piece of technology but when they went to implement it, it just didn’t work and it didn’t fit in properly.” So it’s important. So it’s a really good resource there for members to be using.

And I think one of the other things from the conversation I have with members over the years is where they’ve actually sat down and mapped out their advice process and their business processes and have those well documented. It’s much easier to identify where there is a pain point and where there is a piece of technology that will provide a solution to that pain point rather than just going, “I don’t like doing this bit and so I’ll buy a piece of technology to do it.” But in fact, that’s actually not the problem in the business and that’s not where the biggest bang for the buck is actually going to come from.

Samantha Clarke:

Spot on. And with any good project, engage the stakeholders across the business. And it’s actually quite surprising, some of the insights we’ve found. In the early days, a number of years ago, we’d be engaging with the chief technology people in a business as well as the chief compliance people. Whereas these days increasingly, because this technology is so usable, it’s in the hands for self checks by advisers and the paraplanners when they’re creating the advice. And so, that’s really exciting. And it’s great, actually, for the compliance and technology people because they then don’t have to even worry about auditing a lot of advice unless it’s escalated to them, it’s actually handled at source.

Ben Marshan (31:19):
And change of management becomes a lot easier within the practice or the business as well because they get excited about using the technology.

Samantha Clarke:

That’s so true. And I remember in the early days, some planners would be going, “I don’t want to be doing compliance checking, I’ve got a compliance person for that.” Whereas now they’re going, “This is fantastic. Now I get it.” And putting on my old policy hat, it’s really exciting when it just becomes the muscle memory of all to cover off certain points around the best interest duty and it just becomes just part of the obvious knowledge and professional knowledge set of every planner, and that serves those planners really well with their clients as well. So we’re finding the groups that are using RegTech technology are actually the ones that are growing the fastest as well, which is really exciting.

Ben Marshan:

So just getting back to the preparing for picking the piece of technology and then choosing the right ones. What are some of the really good questions that financial planning practices come and ask you when they’re preparing to use Advice RegTech? So what are the good questions, what are the good bits of information there actually, that you go, “Yeah, that’s a really good question that I’d be asking as well. And I’ve got the answer ready, but here’s the right things to be thinking about.”

Samantha Clarke:

Well, I think I can tell those that have read the FPA guide as to questions to ask, which is fantastic. So it’s true. On the technology side, we really love it when people come to these conversations prepared and with knowledge as well. And the ones I particularly like are those that have tried a few others and then they come to us because they hear good things about us. So at Advice RegTech, we don’t have sales people. We work on referral basis only. So we deal with high quality compliant businesses, because as you know, having dealt on the policy side before, there’s a large spectrum of groups in our industry and it’s just more pleasurable and viable for our business to deal with the high quality end. And so we find that with the types of questions they ask as well. Ask how expert and experienced are you in this particular space? When you talk about the advice process and what pain point they’re trying to solve for, suggest that they need to ask around, “Well, what’s your experience? Do you have client references in that space? What’s your data security approach as well?” And I love it when people ask us for our information security policies. And we’ve got hundreds of pages on this because that’s absolutely key, and should be absolutely key for any technology business as well.

So you don’t just want to look at the front end and how any technology works from the user experience perspective. You want to dig deeper to understand what are the data security information security protocols? What are the experiences and feedback from other users who are actually using this in production? Not just “Yeah, I’ve seen it on a webinar.” Or, “I’ve heard about it on a podcast, or something.” I think the most important questions are on privacy, security and usability.

Ben Marshan:

I think with the trend that we’re seeing with everything being hacked and cybersecurity being such an important consideration for the government and for regulators and something that they’re really looking strongly at. We’ve seen licenses removed because of technology issues and cybersecurity issues and massive fines coming through. So, particularly, when you’re dealing with clients’ sensitive financial information, making sure that the security at the back end is critically important.

Ben Marshan:

And to your point, even more so, than the look and feel of the software. You can always find solutions for usability but it’s really hard to get the security bit right. I appreciate you’re focusing on RegTech in particular, the audit file compliance process. But what are some of the other exciting bits of technology or trends that you’re seeing around financial advice at the moment that you might be integrating with and seeing develop?

Samantha Clarke:

Yes, it’s really interesting. So as we’ve all experienced, video forms of communication, video meetings are more common these days. We’re finding that it’s quite common that our software, and I’m sure others as well, are being involved in screen shares and actually recording the coaching session for example, It’s the whole multimedia experience of the, in our case, the advice file review with the planner and the reviewer. And so it’s the same with the planners to consumers as well. So increasingly, video meetings we’re finding and hearing, are absolutely a more common way and actually required way in these COVID times, to be considered and embraced as part of the way of doing business. And personally, I think that’s really exciting because it means that advice is more accessible to a lot of people that in the past haven’t felt as comfortable coming in. Even though most of the planners I know are very approachable people, there’s a number of consumers, as we know out there, and especially the females and perhaps the older females as well that feel a little daunted by the whole financial planning process. Whereas, this type of modern video technology approach is a very safe and comfortable way for a lot of consumers, that hadn’t felt as engaged in financial advice before, to really understand the importance of financial planning and the benefits they can get.

Ben Marshan:

Yeah, so, planners used to be geographically niche because you could really only see the people who were five to 10 kilometers from you because it was as far as anyone was willing to really travel, whereas you can find the best financial planner in the country and engage with them now.

Samantha Clarke:

That’s fantastic. Same also we’re finding with staff as well and flexible ways of working. So we’re finding we’re dealing with a lot of firms that have arrangements where they’ve got flexible work arrangements with either their suppliers, and they might have a paraplanning supplier that’s not actually in office, or was maybe previously in office, and is now remote as well. And so these types of technology tools and platforms enable 24/7 work to happen whenever suits both the workers as well as the clients and the planners as well.

So we’re finding there’s a lot of flexibility and productivity benefits from B2B technology all around. The other thing we’ve really noticed, and this is such a fantastic move, I think, for consumers as well, that digital consent is becoming more common and accepted and the regulations are catching up on that as well. But that’s almost a requirement in this time because it’s so difficult to get wet signatures and back and forth in timely situations. So we’re finding that monitoring time critical advice and all of those really practical things involved with COVID related checks as well – all of that is much more efficiently actioned thanks to technology tools. So yes, a number of things: video platforms; digital consent fact finds that automatically feed into the SOA plans; the use of video tools used with any of these technologies at any stage, whether it’s at the planning stage and, or the compliance checking stage as well. So, both B2C and B2B.

Ben Marshan:

Very good. And I’ll put a shout out for the consumer data right as well. I think we’re just on the tip of that really taking off on the advantages of that. When you talk about fact find information going directly through into modelling software and then to advice being able to automatically collect all the information on a live and ongoing basis, I think it’s something really exciting for members to start to keep an eye on.

Samantha Clarke:

Absolutely. And actually anything digital. So I know that in the past we used to involve the scanning of a number of handwritten physical documents, these days it’s increasingly more data feeds. And so the checks are much more efficient and cost effective for groups as well.

Ben Marshan:

And I would encourage members to also think about, if you’re doing all this good work on digitizing your advice process on the way in, it would be really good to think about digitizing your advice process on the way out as well. You do a video meeting with a client and you show them modeling by sharing screens with them and educating them that way. Don’t generated into a A4 paper based SOA. It’s time to move away from that.

Ben Marshan:

So getting to the other side, and I guess what you specialize on in particular, Sam, the compliance side of things. How is technology improving at making sure the planners are compliant with all their reams and reams and pages and pages and hundreds and hundreds of regulations and laws and things. What kind of solutions are sitting there in that RegTech space to make sure that advice is going out in a compliant way?

Samantha Clarke:

So increasingly, the modelling and the SOA generation tools are becoming more integrated and embedding elements of compliance in them. That said, all of us in governance know that you need to have the checks and balances. So you don’t want the tool that’s generating the advice, to be the tool that saying it’s compliant. And especially once advice is issued to clients, sometimes it’s different to what’s actually gone into those modeling tools as well. So have your checks and balances, make sure that there’s a separation between your generation tools and your prevet compliance audit tool as well, which is very easily done thanks to the compliance checking as well. So we find the best tools are agnostic or independent from any of those generation and source tools for Fact Finds an SOAs and all the rest. So yes, I’d say look for those that say they’ve got embedded compliance and regulations in them but also look for the separation, for a governance perspective. The other we’re finding is that, a lot of this is being used at the prevet and the advisers self check stage. So it’s becoming a daily part of what advisers and their support staff do when they’re preparing their advice for consumers as well to run it through these RegTech checks before it’s issued to consumers. We’re seeing, it’s fantastic so exciting to say that, in the last few years, we’ve had compliance rates of, and we’ve generally dealt with their better ones, but compliance rates of, around 90% these days, thanks to these tools, it’s generally 95% and above and they self correct and they get it right before it’s issued.

So it’s really exciting to see the value that’s actually achieved, and actually the risk mitigation that’s delivered and knowing that the advice is going out as high quality compliant advice. The other things to look out for, I’d say, the best tools have embedded FPA code references and FASEA references as well as Corporations Act and Regulatory Guides and TASA. And so I know the SAMI compliance software has all of those elements embedded in it, and also stays current and up to date with the new requirements. We have mandatory breach and DDO and target market and more of the rest as well.

Ben Marshan:

The two points, I think that’s important, number one is, as a planner, you just sleep better at night knowing that your file has been checked and your SOA has been checked before it goes out to the client and you know it ticks all the boxes and meets the compliance. You don’t have that same stress and panic when it gets to audit time each year because you know you’ve been through a process that helps you make sure that when somebody does have a look at the file, it’s more about coaching and mentoring and where are there some improvements you can make in your client engagement process rather than, is this a compliant file? Have you breached anything? Have you broken the law?

But I think the other benefit is, and there’s been a lot of conversation about this, AFCA has come out and said, there are very few consumer complaints coming through in financial advice and where there are, they’re mainly finding in the favour of the planner because the files are compliant. And ASIC is saying the same. And the government is saying the same. From the results of all these reviews going on is that we are complying. And these tools are, and SAMI being one of them from Advice RegTech, are important in changing that narrative about the trust and the professionalism of financial advice, because we can now do these checks in real time on the way out.

Samantha Clarke:

Spot on, and not just that. so now that as an industry we’re getting over that perception gap, that the politicians and others had around that professionalism and that the quality of the output of our industry, and as you said that’s been validated by AFCA. But also, we’re finding increasingly, because all of these reviews are captured in the compliance vault of these secure systems like SAMI, that it enables better conversations we’re finding with the PI insurers. And also when it comes to the look back, or the external audit reviews, it’s “Well, all the record keeping is in order, all of the files been reviewed.” Yes, if someone’s missed something in a note or a check of a document, well, that’s a much simpler, quicker, more efficient and cost effective exercise. Then just like getting your tax files in order ahead of time than having to start from scratch and cobble together all of the information. So we’re finding there’s so much peace of mind from these AFSLs knowing that all of these millions of files are kept in the compliance vault ready at a moment’s notice for confirmation that everything’s in order or for quick correction if that’s required.

Ben Marshan:
Just as we’re finishing up here, what are your top FinTech tips and why are those your tips?

Samantha Clarke:

Top FinTech tips. So think of FinTech and RegTech regulatory technology as a tool to help the efficiency and effectiveness of your business processes as well as the ability to think of it as an opportunity to actually reduce the overall cost of advice. As well as at the same time having business productivity benefits for your business. As well as giving you that peace of mind with consumers, and also for if and when the regulators come knocking, that you’ve got everything in order. So look for those that are experienced in what they do, go through a process of doing comparative due diligence on the various vendors in this space.

Samantha Clarke:

Don’t just be attracted to bright, shiny sales presentations. Actually dig into what’s the substance and the experience and the background of the vendors you’re dealing with. Do they truly understand the financial planning sector and the issues that we all face on the regulatory, legislative and the political environment as well. Go through a pilot project and approach it with a commitment to try to make that as effective as it can be with an eye on moving towards implementation after that, if everything’s successful. Because everyone wants to use their time wisely in this industry because there’s so much to cover.

And I’d say, put the effort into interrogating your FinTechs and RegTechs and ensuring that it’s not just a set and forget solution they’re giving you. That it’s something that continues to be upgraded and updated to suit the changing needs and changing regulations and requirements. Because one thing we know is a constant in this sector, it’s change. You want to be with technology providers that can adapt very quickly and understand the importance of key items to our industry, not just be technology experts, they need to be industry experts as well.

Ben Marshan:

I think it’s really easy to try and just add a new layer of rules or new layer of compliance onto your existing process. But stepping back and actually thinking about, what is the intent of this? What are we actually trying to achieve here? What are we trying to actually check and take a fresh look at that is often much more important. And I think, when you’re working with somebody who has that focus from the technology solution perspective, then you’re going to get a much better outcome.

Ben Marshan:

Sam, it was phenomenal to catch up with you today. As I said, I missed our engagement at the AFA and the work we did together. And I think we actually managed to achieve a lot working together back in the days, but I’m even more excited to see what you’ve developed over at Advice RegTech and the solutions. I know that the members who’ve met up with you at FPA congresses in the FinTech zone and had conversations with you have learnt a lot and are using your amazing solution. So I’d encourage everyone to have a look at what Sam and her team are doing over at Advice RegTech. Thank you for joining us today. Thanks for sharing your insights. It’s been a great conversation here on the FPA podcast.

Samantha Clarke:

Thank you. My pleasure.