Request Letter of Authority (LoA) Fulfilment v1.0 Draft A Standard has been published, adding to our suite of standards that includes LoA Protection Fulfilment, LoA Investment Fulfilment, LoA DC Pension Fulfilment, and LoA Wrap Fulfilment. The new addition sets out how a standardised Letter of Authority request can be made by an adviser to a product provider, to trigger the data fulfilment that the prior publications specify.
Our Letter of Authority (LoA) Standards can play a pivotal role in assisting advisers when onboarding new clients. They offer an effective means of acquiring essential information about clients' existing policies. This comprehensive understanding of a client's current provisions is indispensable, as it equips advisors with well-informed, tailored detail needed to provide advice on the suitability of clients’ active policies.
Without the automation these standards offer, the LoA process for advisers can be time-consuming, inconsistent, frustrating, and a costly endeavour. Similarly, for product providers, having an industry-agreed set of data to fulfil for each of these product types can help streamline internal operations which may be dealing with the complex and historical nature of the data, and its spread across multiple systems.
The core objective of these standards is to facilitate a seamless, automated LoA process initiated by an adviser. We have collaborated with a range of providers, advisers and software suppliers to define a repeatable, standardised approach to Letter of Authority processes that can be implemented to deliver a reliable, easy-to-navigate experience. This increases consistency, reduces time, effort and costs; and – critically – supports the delivery of better outcomes for consumers.
