Every week we hear the same thing: ‘It’s the providers holding everything up.’ And to an extent, it’s true. But that mindset? It’s also dangerous.

In this blog we cover;

• Why blaming providers for slow LoAs only gets you so far.

• The real reasons behind provider delays.

• The bottlenecks in advice firms which amplify them.

• Why taking ownership is the smart path to improved client experience.

The Default Narrative: It’s All the Provider’s Fault

Slow responses. Missing data. Impossible-to-reach teams who won’t answer calls and push you online to find things yourself.

You submit an LoA and wait. Meanwhile, you’re trying to build rapport with a client you haven’t even onboarded yet by offering an audit of their existing situation to provide value.

From the adviser’s side, it feels like death by a thousand cuts. Spending hours chasing policy information that (ideally) should’ve arrived complete in the first place. Incurring significant costs in the process.

So yeah — the frustration is real. The impact is real. And in some cases, it means lost revenue and lost clients. I get it.

But blaming the provider only gets us so far.

Here’s the Problem With That View

It’s easy to say “our hands are tied”, “it’s the providers, not us”, “there’s not much we can do”.

But clients don’t care whose fault it is. They care about one thing: what level of service am I getting.

Consumer Duty, says firms must “enable and support customers promptly.” So if your LoA process takes three weeks because you’re waiting on a provider, and you’ve done nothing to speed up your own side of the equation — that’s your problem too.

Treating LoAs as a “provider issue” is a dangerous mindset. Because it implies inaction. It suggests there’s nothing you can do. But there is.

And waiting around for reform — that’s not just a risk to a deal. It’s a compliance issue.

The Real Reasons Providers Move Slowly

We've spoken to many of the biggest providers and platforms. And the truth is… the delay’s are hardly ever down to laziness or incompetence.

More often, it’s structural.

Providers operate in huge, risk-averse orgs with legacy infrastructure and multiple governance gates. Any request to “speed up transfers” inevitably competes with projects tied to growth, retention, or regulatory remediation.

Secondly, imagine being a project manager at a life company and walking into a boardroom saying:

“Hey, I’ve got a great idea — let’s spend loads of time and money making it easier for clients to leave us.”

Not exactly a vote-winner. So even when the will is there, the path to action is murky at best.

Getting ANY business to spend time and money on projects which will negatively impact their business likely requires legislation. Regulation. Mandates.

So if you’re waiting on provider’s to solve your turnaround time problem? History dictates you’ll be waiting a while.

The Other Side of the Mess: Advice Firms Aren’t Blameless

Now let’s flip the mirror.

We’ve seen inside the back-office of 100+ advice firms. And here’s the uncomfortable truth:

Providers aren’t to blame for:

• Capacity constraints in your support team

• Delays chasing missing info

• Double-keying the same client data into three systems

• Poor training causing back-and-forth between admin, paraplanning and advisers

• Zero integrations between your daily tools

A slow LoA process isn’t just about the external bottlenecks. It’s often about the internal ones too — and those are in your control.

This is the bit we obsess over at 4admin. Because while we can’t force providers to modernise, we can give advice firms the tools to clean up their side of the workflow — fast.

Why Taking Ownership Is the Only Option

LoA pain isn’t new. It’s been part of this industry for decades.

And let’s be honest — the solution everyone wants i.e. full provider standardisation and data packs that contain everything you need, is going to take regulatory change. Translation: many years.

But advice firms don’t need to wait that long.

At 4admin, we were accepted into the FCA’s Innovation Pathways Programme — because we’re building something different.

Tech that works at the intermediary level. Tech that reads provider’s standard PDFs, pulls out the data, flags what’s missing against your compliance requirements, chases what’s missing, and updates your CRM — in minutes.

You don’t need to wait for providers to change. You can change how you work now. And if you’re serious about Consumer Duty and reducing turnaround times that’s the only smart move on the table.

What’s coming next?

Yes, we need top-down support from the regulator. We need data standardisation and legislation to mandate change.

But we also need bottom up change from advice firms. It’s time to stop waiting and start fixing what’s in our control.

That’s how you cut turnaround times, increase capacity, and deliver better service under Consumer Duty. Not by blaming. But by building.

Let the providers catch up. But don’t let them slow you down. If you're interested in exploring this let me know.