AMP’s Wade pushes digital advice objective

AMP Limited has signalled the seriousness of its move down the digital and scaled advice channel with its Wealth Management chief executive, Alex Wade, calling for a new solution to deliver compliant and affordable advice to the masses.

In a statement issued ahead of today’s Financial Services Council (FSC) Leaders Summit, Wade said the current financial planning regulatory model largely supported face to face advice.

However, he said there was a need to find a new kind of advice “to help those Australians that don’t need or can’t afford holistic face to face advice”.

“It’s advice at a price point that suits, delivered in a way that suits – digitally – and this could be online, phone, video, or robo,” Wade said. 

“The big change is how those conversations happen. In the same way bank customers no longer need to head into a branch during the working day, financial advice clients can now choose how and when they want to receive advice. It’s thriving overseas, particularly in the US, and Australians are known for their appetite for digital and online transactions in shopping, travel and food.

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“Coupled with the complexity of our tax and retirement systems and our ageing population, the imminent digital disruption is why we need to act fast,” he said.

Wade said it was not a simple solution and that the industry needed to accelerate discussions with the regulators, the government and other industry players.

He pointed to the theme of the FSC conference being “Shape Your Industry” which he said was a thinly-veiled directive to the finance sector to work together to build a stronger and better industry to meet the demands of consumers.

“In financial advice, AMP is taking up the mantra, engaging with government, regulators and industry to shape the way forward. We need to build a regulatory framework that supports these newer advice channels such as digital and robo. This will take collaboration and commitment,” Wade said.