AMP wealth strategy returns to dark ages
The wealth management strategy recently announced by AMP is a return to the dark ages, according to Synchron’s chair, Michael Harrison.
Harrison believed the AMP announcements were very bad news as the new strategy would again represent a situation where institutions create products and force people into them.
He stressed that the core of the problems across the wealth management industry lay with banks and institutions while the sanctions introduced only caused a growing burden of obligations for advisers.
"To make matters worse, governments, and institutions with big budgets, appear to have also somehow manipulated the rhetoric to such an extent that many people seem to genuinely believe advisers have brought the current set of circumstances on themselves and have no empathy for them,” he added.
"What many people have failed to understand is that AMP and the institutions were largely responsible for the fees-for-no-service debacle, not advisers.”
Harrisson said that although AMP did not indicate how many advisers would be forced to exit the industry, following the rationalisation of its network, the estimates ranged from 30 to 80 per cent of adviser network.
According to Synchron, the Government mismanaged the financial services industry to such an extent that it has effectively handed institutions like AMP a free pass.
"The fundamental question governments and institutions need to ask themselves now is, how are consumers better off without advice?.”
Recommended for you
The JAWG has announced it is in talks with Treasury around five 'core principles' to strengthen the education standards for new entrants to the financial advice space.
TAL has introduced four new courses to its Risk Academy focused on ethical dilemmas as part of Ethics Month to help advisers meet their CPD requirements.
Unadvised Australians believe they need $2 million to retire comfortably, according to Colonial First State, a wide variance compared to advised individuals which estimate $1.3 million.
Financial advisers can now access Vanguard’s diversified managed account strategies on HUB24 and Netwealth, marking a “significant expansion” through new distribution channels.