Four providers launch consortium to improve LoA experience for advisers

Four providers, Scottish Widows, Aviva, Royal London and L&G, have come together to launch a new consortium, with the aim of transforming and scaling their letter of authority (LoA) processes through integrations with fintech Origo.

Origo has established the consortium together with the providers in order to collaborate and share their knowledge, exploring different ways to integrate digital LoA processes so that pain points can be eradicated.

Collectively, the four providers process approximately 500,000 LoAs each year, which, up until recently, would have been spread across multiple servicing teams with no way for advisers to track progress without chasing providers.

These providers have already begun to take steps aimed at improving the LoA experience for advisers and clients through integrations with Origo’s Unipass Letter of Authority service, such as introducing same-day replies for advisers and automated client vetting.

The firms will also integrate with a shared, market-wide solution to provide consistency, so advisers don’t have to learn another provider-specific process, creating a single digital entry point for sending all LoA requests instead of advisers having to use multiple inboxes and processes.

Other steps include streamlining multiple legacy systems shaped by mergers over many years into a single solution across all LoA products, and online real-time tracking of LoA progress for advisers, with notifications at each stage of the process.

Ed Parker, head of adviser lab, Scottish Widows, said: "It's great to see providers in this consortium and beyond investing in long-overdue improvement to LoA servicing, with noticeable enhancement to digital experience, data accuracy and turnaround times.

"At Scottish Widows, our ambition is clear: to move all of our LoA servicing through Unipass Letter of Authority, with automation built behind this single channel to offer advisers LoA responses in 15 minutes, not 15 days. We believe this is how LoAs should be done, no more waiting and chasing for advisers, faster pace and better outcomes for clients."

Anthony Rafferty, chief executive officer at Origo, added: "The consortium shows what real collaboration looks like in practice as organisations integrate transformative LoA processes into their own systems, moving beyond simply digitising their existing approach to fundamentally improving the experience."