Speaking at the launch of the FSC/DST CEO Survey in Sydney yesterday, Mr Brogden said the Senate committee report was the “most significant negative finding” since the collapse of Storm Financial in 2009.
“I feel we are back to square one in terms of reputation and trust for advisers, and there is no doubt for the honest and hardworking advisers that this was a body blow for them,” said Mr Brogden.
However, he was quick to point out that the misconduct by CBA advisers occurred before the FOFA regulations had been put in place.
“We do need to give FOFA a chance to do what it is meant to do, and we do need to move on the education issues,” said Mr Brogden.
The requirements contained within the FOFA regulations are “worlds apart” from the former requirement in the Corporations Act to merely provide ‘appropriate advice’, he said.
But the biggest challenge for the advice industry will be to build the right culture, said Mr Brogden.
“You can legislate until the cows come home and you can require educational standards, but what needs to be developed is a culture. You need a cultural shift,” he said.
Asked whether there are other “ticking timebombs” in the industry, Mr Brogden said ASIC will be “out there looking for [them], as they should be”.
“ASIC will rev up its investigations and that will deal with the rogues in the marketplace, but the only way we will establish a genuine culture of trust is [by getting] the culture right,” said Mr Brogden.
“We are in a new world, there is no doubt about that. We are in a new world, but as we left the old world we got dragged back in by a few scandals,” he said.
You got it ,The corporations act has been there for a long time and fraudulant activities occured because the reqiurements of giving advice and making switches were not adhered to.Dishonest conduct outside the financial industry results in fines and jail time .Dishonest conduct within the industry results in being dismissed from the industry ,But the adviser still gets to keep the money he or she earned and can still walk free.Clearly to me the authorities are more concerned in protecting the industies reputation rather than the general public interests.There are happily retired advisers living on money they illegally recieved,but as far as ASIC is concerened as long as they are out of the industry that is good enough for them.This is not good enough for the public ,The implications for criminals inside the industry is very different to that of that of criminals in the outside world.
There is no doubt that there is a level of stigma & distrust attached to the Financial Services industry, but at the same time as these articles go to print, brilliant work is being done by Susie Munro at The Goodplan Project http://youtu.be/zdFaOGGEHOA in getting positive client stories documented and published. If you also want to make positive change instead of whining about how tough you’ve got it, get involved!
100% Alison, and you will hardly hear that from John Brogden – the culprits in the cba boardroom are his high pee paying members!
Once again it is frustrating that no one is pointing the finger at management with their sales culture.
I agree Craig but you can hardly accuse IFA of not being pro adviser. This is one of the few webistes that has pointed out the bias at the ABC and Fairfax. CBA is to blame for this mess, not the industry media
The relentless and persistent focus of the industry media and general media regarding the financial advice sector appears to be so unbalanced when compared to focus on unscrupulous and “rogue” professionals that operate daily within the legal, medical, accounting, or education space….all of which require equal or perhaps even greater responsibility. It seems incredible to me that more media focus is rarely committed to possible bonuses, kickbacks or financial incentives that may or may not be provided to the medical and pharmaceutical profession.Are consumers also entitled to clarity around a best interest duty in this space or is it simply because the “perceived” level of trust within these professions, results in less scrutiny ?
It is certainly time to allow the financial services sector some time and space away from the negative spotlight and for the media attention and reporting to be more balanced and less biased.
Get the culture right within the bank owned businesses and you fix 85% of the industry, right? What is ASIC waiting for?