Australian financial services licensees (AFSLs) are placing greater focus on monitoring and supervision of their financial planner networks, according to Kate Humphries, general manager of Pathway Licensee Services.
Humphries said several of Pathway's clients – who had postponed adviser reviews in the past due to cost – are now asking for full audits of their planners.
"It could be that all of the focus for the last two years has been on investment returns, so I think businesses are getting their heads around what is quality advice being provided in the best interest of their clients," Humphries said.
"In order to measure how much change is in the process, they need to understand where they're at right now."
Licensees have also been asking for comment around the quality of the recommendations, rather than just ticking the Future of Financial Advice (FOFA) boxes, Humphries said.
"At a licensee level there is a large awareness that the underlying principles of FOFA – the spirit of FOFA – need to be aligned to what the advice network is doing," she said.
"So it's all very well to have a policy in place, but they really need to see that it is flowing through and that best practice is what is being delivered to their clients."
