The offshore financial planning market can benefit from employing more paraplanners, believes Claire Irvine, Head of the Nexus Global network.
While to date offshore firms have not adopted paraplanning in the same way as in the UK, Claire sees a growing awareness of the benefits that having an in-house paraplanner or using an outsourced service can bring to firms.
Claire’s role at Nexus Global is very broad, covering operations, handling business development, onboarding of new firms, relationship management, and working with members on their business plans and strategies. “We work with them on how they can shape their business in the relevant jurisdictions, and how they can work with us and be more effective as part of the network,” she says.
She’s also the conduit between providers and member firms, helping to arrange training and CPD, among other ‘value add’ elements of the network support process.
And she does this across all the jurisdictions the firm covers. “There’s a lot of operational work involved,” she says.
Spreading the paraplanning message
Having identified how paraplanners can bring a new dimension to member firms, she is keen to spread the message within the network.
“Some of our members are already using paraplanners, either hiring in-house or using external resources. Those who are using paraplanners already, tell me they are mainly researching and writing suitability reports, and are involved in both adviser and client support,” Claire says. “Those not using paraplanners cite the lack of clarity on the cost effectiveness and the lack of qualified candidates to be the biggest roadblocks.”
As offshore advice businesses expand, she believes there will be greater demand for paraplanners. “What we are seeing is that as businesses grow, and they become more digital, they have a good incoming stream of leads, which means advisers have to spend more time building relationships with more clients. Having the support of paraplanners doing the research, writing reports and having a greater involvement in the client journey, can be of real benefit for firms looking for efficient ways to expand their business.”
She sees a lot of potential in the offshore market. “There’s growth in our industry, which means there is a lot of work to do. We’re looking to the principles of Consumer Duty and pulling a lot of that into the businesses. We’re building the systems and processes in, so that as soon as a client comes through the door, firms are already interacting with this in mind, ensuring they can best serve and get the ideal outcome for clients.”
EU regulation, in the shape of MiFID II, means starting an offshore advisory business is now far harder and more capital intense, which points toward a trend for larger businesses across the individual jurisdictions. “Traditionally, firms have been structured with advisers, business development managers (BDMs) and administration units. But as more firms turn to digital operations, they won’t need the same number of business development roles. Instead, I can see that to help them be more efficient and compliant, there will be shift from business development to paraplanning, so the advisers can focus on the front end client relationships and bringing in new business.”
Paraplanners’ knowledge and experience built up under UK regulation are a good foundation for working offshore, Claire says. “Clearly, there will a learning curve as every jurisdiction has its own tax laws and relevant products, and I would say someone will need a good 3 to 6 months of bedding in on the job, to make sure they have a good working knowledge of the requirements in the countries where the clients are going to be based. What’s fine in France may be different in Spain and different again in Portugal.
“But it also makes the role more exciting. You could be dealing with ultra-high-net-worth clients with income from across the globe. There’s the opportunity to learn a lot of very interesting and complex information. It can be very intellectually stimulating.”
Most firms deal mainly with British or English speaking ex-pats. “So, overall, paraplanning offshore is close to but different from working in the UK,” she points out.
“Also, UK qualifications from the CII and CISI are currently accepted as equivalent in most jurisdictions in the offshore market and a paraplanner’s skills are definitely very transferable as a baseline entry to market.”
So, if working in the offshore market sounds appealing to you…
How Claire got to where she is today
Claire began her career in general insurance in Australia before moving to Amsterdam in 2013, where she worked with the ex-pat market in insurance and financial planning, progressing from administrator to operations manager. After four years, she explored roles outside financial services as a purchasing manager and sales rep in electronics, gaining valuable commercial experience in business development and client acquisition.
In 2020, she rejoined the financial sector as a Relationship Manager at Nexus Global, the Network arm of Blacktower Financial Management. By 2021, she stepped into her current role as Head of the Nexus Global network, successfully expanding the network’s reach from 12 to over 30 members.
She has recently joined the Business and Operations Management (BOMS) network as an ambassador. “I’m working alongside some amazing individuals in the financial services industry. There is an affinity to the operations and paraplanning roles and there are huge opportunities to collaborate and grow the profiles of both roles within the industry, on a global scale,:” she says.
Nexus Global is an IFA Network that provides a framework to facilitate international licensing, regulatory, and compliance oversight for its international adviser firm members, which are primarily based in the EU, the UK and the US.
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