‘Boldness’ needed to encourage digital advice uptake
There needs to be ‘boldness’ from firms when it comes to digital advice, according to Ignition Advice, otherwise Australia is unlikely to see a rapid uptake of the service.
The firm said Australia lagged behind other countries worldwide when it came to take up of digital advice and many were still nervous about it.
Earlier this month, the Australian Securities and Investments Commission told a Parliamentary Committee that 134 out of 183 financial advisers had told it they did not want to provide digital advice in the future.
Mark Fordree, co-founder and director of Ignition Advice, said although there were no regulatory rules which prevented digital advice from being delivered, both advisers and banks were still reluctant to embrace it.
“Australia is still on the bottom rung when it comes to digital advice,” he said.
“We are not seeing the quality of leadership that is going to generate a rapid uptake of digital advice, managements do not see the urgency and compliance teams are nervous about it.
“More boldness is required from everyone and that would be great to see.”
Chief executive, Mike Giles, said he understood why advisers would be reluctant to embrace a full model of digital advice but that it was more likely digital advice would work as a hybrid model rather than replace them.
“People think it is about a push from face-to-face advice to a full digital model but that’s not the answer either as people will still want some help or it’s something that is not appropriate to be handled digitally. It has to be a mix or a hybrid model.
“Using technology brings gears into the process and makes it more nuanced and brings consumers into the mix.”
Fordree added: “The future is one where digital technology will be a complementary offering to a market that still sees advice as something that is too expensive or only for the very wealthy.
“ASIC has indicated that it believes single-issue advice can help close the advice gap and, in this environment, it is inevitable technology will provide the missing piece of the advice puzzle.”
AUTHOR
Laura Dew
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