MenuChant West and the Financial Advice Association Australia (FAAA) have jointly launched a framework to make it easier for financial advisers to work with superannuation funds to support their shared clients and fund members.
Called the Adviser-Ready Fund , it will help ensure that more Australians have choice about how they access financial advice, and that financial advisers can access the information they need to support their clients throughout their super saving and retirement journeys.
Chant West general manager, Ian Fryer, said that with input from FAAA members, the purpose-built framework includes tailored underlying criteria to assess the services and information that super funds provide to financial advisers to help them support clients who are fund members.
“Chant West and the FAAA share a commitment to creating a stronger alignment between the work of the super and advice sectors to ultimately create better financial outcomes for more Australians.
“It is critical that more Australian consumers have access to great financial advice. The Adviser-Ready Fund accreditation will help ensure that more consumers have choice about how they access advice, and that advisers can find the information they need to support their clients.”
FAAA CEO, Sarah Abood, says quality, professional financial advice is at the heart of helping Australians enjoy an economically secure retirement, and the Adviser-Ready Fund accreditation will assist advisers who are working on behalf of their clients to achieve this.
“A panel of FAAA members who use all types of superannuation products – including SMSFs, platforms, and pooled vehicles such as retail and ‘profit to member’ super funds – were involved in developing the key assessment criteria. This helps ensure that the criteria is focused on what advisers actually need to assist their clients,” Abood says.
“It is important to note the Adviser-Ready Fund is not an investment rating. It is an assessment of how effectively a super fund is supporting external financial advisers who need to access information and implement advice on behalf of their clients.”
The key criteria include:
- access to client’s super fund holding information (via an adviser portal)
- ability to transact on behalf of clients, including digital signatures and consents
- ability to deduct advice fees
- key product features that support the delivery of tailored advice in relation to super
- ease of advisers arranging fee deductions and third-party authorities, and
- third-party adviser support through dedicated contact centres.
“There are 24 criteria that funds are assessed against, and they need to meet 16 out of the 24 criteria to receive the Adviser-Ready Fund certification,” Fryer says.
The funds that have achieved a certification for 2026, indicating they are operationally ready to support external professional financial advice, are:
- AMP MyNorth
- Australian Retirement Trust – Super Savings
- Aware Super
- Brighter Super
- BT Panorama
- CFS Edge
- CFS FirstChoice
- Expand
- HUB24
- Macquarie
- MLC MasterKey
- Netwealth