Aligned, non-aligned? Clients don’t care
Whether an adviser is aligned or non-aligned to major banking institution should be irrelevant, provided clients are receiving appropriate advice, according to major insurer TAL.
The insurer has used its second submission to the Financial Systems Inquiry to argue that in reality there is little consumer interest in whether financial planners are aligned or non-aligned and therefore the focus should be on the delivery of quality advice.
"TAL believes the focus of advice should be on ensuring it is high quality and appropriate for the client," it said. "Provided consumers are getting advice which is appropriate to their needs, alignment is and should be irrelevant."
"However, we believe the ownership relationship should be disclosed to the consumer. TAL currently adopts this approach with Affinia, clearly stating that it is ‘backed by TAL' on its logo," the submission said.
It said that TAL did not believe consumers were sensitive to differences in the price of independent or aligned advice.
"Customers appear to be very sensitive to the cost of advice, in the absence of a compelling value proposition, but we are not aware of any evidence to support the notion that price sensitivity is linked to the independence of the adviser," the TAL submission said.
Recommended for you
With the final tally for FY25 now confirmed, how many advisers left during the financial year and how does it compare to the previous year?
HUB24 has appointed Matt Willis from Vanguard as an executive general manager of platform growth to strengthen the platform’s relationships with industry stakeholders.
Investment manager Drummond Capital Partners has announced a raft of adviser-focused updates, including a practice growth division, relaunched manager research capabilities, and a passive model portfolio suite.
When it comes to M&A activity, the share of financial buyers such as private equity firms in Australia fell from 67 per cent to 12 per cent in the last financial year.
