ASIC turns tables on consumers, dealer groups
Dealer groups and consumers must do their part to surveil the financial advice profession, with the Australian Securities and Investments Commission’s (ASIC’s) resources allowing it limited reign over the “high risk” industry, its chairman says.
Addressing a media conference in relation to the fallout of the recent Commonwealth Financial Planning-related ASIC inquiry, the regulator’s chairman, Greg Medcraft, stressed the onus is on other stakeholders, not just ASIC, to lift standards within the industry.
“It’s really a message to the financial advice profession, they themselves have got to think about how they win the trust and confidence of all Australians,” he said.
“We have 30 staff looking to monitor over 40,000 financial planners, so we need, at the end of the day, consumers to take care when they’re dealing with financial advisers and secondly, we need those that are licensees to make sure that they supervise the financial planners that come under them.”
Medcraft said financial advice should be sought by half of Australians, instead of around a fifth, and blamed public perception of the industry for the lag.
“The fact that only one in five Australians goes to a financial adviser, I think, is a testament in itself,” he said.
“We actually need advice we can trust because with superannuation it doesn’t guarantee an outcome and you need to have good financial advice or you need to equally make sure that you get an education and you access good advice,” he said.
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