Risk profile software provider Dynamic Planner is expanding into Europe in a bid to help firms address “hurdles” they will face in the coming years.
The company has signed an agreement with advice body European Federation of Financial Advisers and Financial Intermediaries (Fecif) to identify and introduce potential partners.
Brussels-based Fecif represents financial adviser and intermediary members from the 27 EU countries as well as the UK and Switzerland.
Dynamic Planner said it has already completed the localisation of its risk and sustainability profiling instruments for France, Germany, Italy, Spain and Belgium working with in-country experts and financial advisers to ensure they adapt to local requirements.
The firm will “localise its full functionality including: reviews, goal-based cash flow planning and suitability reporting to provide its one financial planning system to European clients”.
The localisation “will continue throughout 2022” and the firm said it will add to its team to serve its newly established client base in Europe.
Mission
Ben Goss, chief executive at Dynamic Planner, told International Adviser: “There is an enormous shift happening in the way that advisers help households manage their finances in Europe and prepare for retirement in terms of the investment risk they need to take and the regulation that they face.
“Large organisations face many challenges – ageing populations; low savings rates and clients with assets held across different institutions. Some of our existing clients have European operations and this expansion is a logical progression to help them address some of these hurdles and also help create greater efficiencies.
“We looked intensively at the needs of European financial services firms, asset managers and clients as a result of Mifid II, IDD and the growth in risk-based investing. The market feedback we have had is that we can help financial services firms successfully meet these challenges as we do in the UK.
“The research we conducted showed that all countries in Europe are more risk averse when it comes to investments than the UK, and there is a need for more education around financial risk. On the other hand, a number of EU markets are ahead of the UK when it comes to incorporating sustainability into the financial planning process and we can learn from this.
“In the UK, we have already met the many challenges that investors, financial services firms and asset managers now face in Europe so we are extremely well placed to do the same on the continent.
“Our mission is to help firms match people to suitable portfolios through engaging financial planning and we believe there is a huge opportunity to contribute the expertise and one financial planning system technology we offer in the EU not least because the Financial Conduct Authority implemented Mifid II earliest in the UK and Dynamic Planner is Mifid II compliant.”
Hire
As part of its expansion plan, Dynamic Planner has appointed Christophe Ponette as managing director for Europe to lead the company’s growth in the region.
Ponette was previously the managing director of European banking and wealth technology provider Avaloq and has over 25 years’ experience working in sales and management positions in European markets including the Netherlands, Switzerland, France, Luxembourg and Belgium.
He will work in collaboration with Simon Colboc, who has joined Dynamic Planner in a non-executive capacity.
Colboc has 25 years’ experience in financial services, including executive positions at Fortis, BNP Paribas and Prudential. He heads up Fecif’s work on pan-European pensions and runs the financial services practice of Paris-based firm CMI Strategies.
Provide answer to challenges
Ponette said: “We have undertaken extensive country specific research to enable us to understand what is needed and begin to adapt what we offer to each market.
“This has already informed the design of a range of country specific, multi-language risk profiling and sustainability questionnaires. This insight has also highlighted a need for more education around financial risk and this is central to what we do at Dynamic Planner.
“Above all there is a need to create a culture of investment, improving the overall customer experience and establishing a better and more efficient integration of the financial planning process. We believe Dynamic Planner can provide the answer to these challenges.”
