PROPEL with Singlife, the one-stop shared services hub for financial advisory firms, has announced its onboarding of over 1,300 financial adviser representatives (FARs), just nine months after its official launch.
PROPEL continues to solidify its position as the trusted partner for financial advisers and firms looking to scale their businesses efficiently.
The announcement follows a double-win at the recent InsurInnovator Connect Asia Awards, held on September 24, where PROPEL clinched the ‘Operational Excellence Pioneer’ and ‘Technology Integration Excellence’ awards.
Back in July, PROPEL was also named the ‘Insurtech Initiative of the Year, Singapore’ at the 10th Insurance Asia Awards. The awards validate PROPEL’s market-disrupting proposition and its mission to help FA firms scale their businesses.
Steven Ong, CEO of PROPEL with Singlife, said, “PROPEL started as an idea to ease the administrative challenges tied agents face in establishing their own firms while ensuring customers benefit from unbiased advice and a broader range of financial products. We are driven by the vision of helping aspiring entrepreneurial financial advisers to succeed on their own terms.
“We are humbled to have crossed the 1,000-adviser mark within a year of our official launch, and we are motivated to work with our clients to continue enhancing our platform and services, to enable them to focus on what matters most – delivering exceptional service to their clients.”
To build on its momentum, PROPEL is focused on delivering a platform that enables its client firms to streamline operations, enhance efficiency, and deliver greater value to their clients. Last month, PROPEL announced the appointment of Terry Chen as its new Chief Technology Officer.
With over 18 years of experience in financial services, technology, and strategy consulting, Terry leads PROPEL’s efforts in growing platform capabilities to address operational inefficiencies faced by financial advisers.
Jean Yeo, Head of Platform and Client Engagement at PROPEL, said, “We are extremely pleased to achieve this major milestone this quickly, but we’re not getting ahead of ourselves. Even as we continue to receive more enquiries on our services and onboard new client firms, we’re continuously listening to our clients and finding ways to improve our platform to meet the evolving needs of advisers.
“For example, in the early stages, our platform faced some stability challenges, such as connectivity timeouts and slower-than-expected response times, but many of our clients remained steadfast in their support. We’re thankful for the patience and trust our clients have given us, and we’re determined to do right by them.”
Last month, PROPEL launched ‘e-FNA 2.0’, an upgrade to the electronic Financial Needs Analysis module on its platform, providing FA firms with greater flexibility in meeting their individual business and compliance needs.
PROPEL’s multi-tenanted platform is designed to ensure that all client FA firms benefit from system upgrades and enhancements without incurring additional costs. Every FA firm on the PROPEL platform benefits equally when new features or upgrades, such as ‘e-FNA 2.0′, are rolled out.
This approach not only reduces operational expenses for FA firms but also ensures that every enhancement is accessible to all users.
Shaun Lin, CEO of GEN Financial Advisory, and an industry veteran with over 25 years’ experience, said, “For GEN, having a trusted partner like PROPEL is important. We appreciate their commitment to listening to feedback and continuously enhancing their platform for clients.
“Whether it’s their client engagement or tech teams, PROPEL has been steadfast in their support, no matter the time of day. Over my years as a financial planner, I’ve seen firsthand what works and what doesn’t in this industry. We are excited to continue this partnership, and we look forward to achieving greater success together.”
Beyond technology, PROPEL’s team of nearly 100 seasoned professionals bring a comprehensive and modular suite of middle-to-back-office services, designed to support financial advisory firms from start-ups to those well-established in key aspects of their operations, allowing them to scale in an efficient and cost-effective manner.
These include new business lodgements, commission management, product due diligence reporting, and comprehensive product comparisons, as well as finance operations such as accounts payable and receivable management.
Additionally, in line with its commitment to moving the industry towards an open architecture, PROPEL offers guidance and support to help aspiring entrepreneurial advisers start their own firms and deliver hyper-personalised solutions to consumers. This will ultimately shape a more customer-centric and innovative financial advisory industry.
