Speaking to ifa, Dr Hunt, a researcher and an award-winning financial planner, said that the QAR represents a step back from government overreach, which has been placing undue pressure on advisers in recent years.
Dr Hunt believes that with the QAR in place, advisers will be able to flourish and self-regulate without fear of excessive government interference.
“In the general sense, it will allow advisers to just blossom and self-regulate,” Dr Hunt said.
Although the QAR does not explicitly mention self-regulation, Dr Hunt explained that it provides a clear path for advisers to prioritise their primary goal of assisting clients, free from excessive bureaucratic constraints. As a result, advisers can devote more time and energy to their clients’ needs, without being bogged down by red tape and regulatory hurdles.
“This will lift the profession from being like it is, which is heavily government-regulated for various good reasons, and it will allow the whole profession to step up and just rise and shine,” Dr Hunt said.
“I’m really optimistic about the impact on the profession. Maybe too optimistic even, but I have so much belief in advisers, they’re such amazing people.”
Dr Hunt did, however, concede that the product providers will receive a revenue boost too.
“They’ll be completely transforming their business and growing at a rate and in a way that we haven’t even understood until now because of the regulation to date,” she explained.
“I imagine that every single product provider will have a fleet of hundreds or thousands of agents basically who work for them, providing advice. And whether that is a good thing or not, in the general sense, for consumers and for clients kind of depends on the ideology of whether we accept that some conflict, like commission, is ok, or if we should go with not allowing any conflict.”
But Dr Hunt believes that more advice to more people is a good thing.
“I think that that the product providers, they’re going to support the sector. We’ll see a funnel almost of new entrants into the profession. We’ll end up with really quality entrants, people who didn’t even know that it was a potential for a profession,” she said.
Although it’s clear that product providers stand to gain from the QAR, Dr Hunt believes that advisers will also benefit from the review, as it will allow them to focus on providing more strategic advice, which is where their true value lies.
To hear more from Dr Hunt, tune into our new podcast from 5pm.
