Advisers finding new homes in support roles

Advisers struggling to comply with the Financial Adviser Standards and Ethics Authority (FASEA) requirements are often finding a new home in the industry in support roles, according to industry recruiters.

Speaking at an Association of Financial Advisers (AFA) webinar, Amy Morgan, Itch associate director – recruitment and selection, said the firm found a lot of advisers they interviewed could not undertake what was now required of them.

“They have – believe it or not – gone into those support roles because they still love what they do and the industry they work in, but it’s just one step too far,” Morgan said.

Cara Graham, TWD financial adviser/director and AFA Inspire WA state chair, said TWD were lucky to avoid that situation.

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“We felt so fortunate as a business when all of those changes came through that are all our advisers were university educated and most had post graduate degrees,” Graham said.

Jodie Perram, Itch managing director, said as the availability of really good advisers shrank as the ratio of support staff grew.

“For an adviser where in the past they might have had to done everything themselves and had that support with paraplanning, what we’re finding at the moment they’re putting in as executive assistants, client services roles,” Perram said.

“So really the adviser is there to do that higher-level decision making and advice and they’ve got all the people around them.

“Which comes back to the working from home scenario which is why for some businesses it simply doesn’t work because they are so short-staffed in that adviser space.”

Graham said as an adviser she found it was good to have other people reporting in other areas but it was not a perfect solution.

“At the end of the day it’s really important as an adviser that sometimes you actually just need time to sit and think about a client,” Graham said.

“It’s about finding the right balance between what the adviser does and what the team does.”

With competition for talent, the panel also discussed the importance of moving up career wise.

Morgan said it was important to ask yourself ‘why’ if you were not moving up in the organisation.

“If you’ve reached a peak and you need to move somewhere else to go that next part in your career, then it is time to shoot,” Morgan said.

Perram said people who had spent 10 years in the same business would often make a poor choice in their next role.

“They’re so used to knowing their job, knowing their business and all those things, how long it takes to get to work… then they make a decision and think it isn’t right,” Perram said.