The managing director of non-aligned licensee Bombora Advice issued a statement on Friday claiming that the corporate regulator’s recent risk and life insurance report provides an opportunity to “grasp the nettle”, but added that many advisers may still be ignorant of the findings.
“In speaking to a number of advisers Handley was surprised to learn that so many were unaware of the interim report and this was a concern as all licensees should have drawn the report to the attention of their respective networks – particularly given its significance,” said a statement from Bombora.
Mr Handley said that any industry response needs to be driven by practising advisers, since they have an “intimate understanding of consumers” and are “the ones managing the claims and other related issues”.
While the former Apogee boss applauded the establishment of the joint AFA-FSC working group, he said the time has come for practitioners to get involved, urging them to put forward submissions.
“The nuances and dynamics of providing risk advice are often not clearly understood and it’s our task and responsibility as practitioners to change this,” he said.
“An opportunity to provide a balanced and considered perspective and insight into the provision of financial advice should never be taken lightly or ignored.”
ASIC’s review found “unacceptable failure” in the provision of risk advice, though a number of stakeholders including the AFA have questioned the methodology behind the report.
MERVIN, what are you talking about? Are you anti-fee for service? I am a nab planner who runs a fee for service business and does so very successfully and profitably, with highly engaged, comprehensively advised and very satisfied clients.
Any failure to make a fee for service model profitable sits with the individual adviser either charging too little (placing too little value on what they do) of working inefficiently – it’s not a flaw with the FFA model.
Take responsibility for your own actions, business and future – that’s my message to advisers….the licensees should send a link to this report and others as they are available, one should expect this at very least even without commentary. TO say advisers are “not across” the contents is to say they have their heads in the sand and cannot be interested in the future of Risk or their own future in the industry at all.
Some advisers and licensees don’t want to know about it because if they did read it they may see their advisory practices are exactly what ASIC states are unacceptable and not acting in the client’s best interest – ‘Ignore it and it may go away’.
Not likely.
Wow another ex- NAB Exec gets foresight. I am amazed at the capacity of all of the ex NAB guys to have a clear view of fee for service and the devastation that it has caused the NAB. It is interesting that the NAB has turned MLC into little better than junk bond status, and if they could find someone to buy they would.
NAB needs to put the capital in now and do so to a point where it halves their share price as a lesson to the other banks on fee for service not being the way to go…
Is that because bank planners are still not individually listed as AR’s and / or management are still pushing sales targets for their own good and not interested into actual advice. Feedback from bank planners, including smaller banks, suggests the above to be still fact. Perhaps ASIC needs to dig further.