Boutique planners revisit ownership concerns

Boutique Financial Planners (BFP) has called for the clear disclosure of licensee ownership after Roy Morgan Research revealed a large percentage of consumers were not aware of ownership ties behind the financial advice they receive. 

BFP’s call also followed the Australian Securities and Investments Commission’s (ASIC’s) latest report in which it raised concerns about the number of financial planning dealer groups which were owned by a major product adviser. 

“The BFP believes that the conflict of interest identified by ASIC and the confusion in consumers’ minds identified by the Roy Morgan research is best managed by full and clear disclosure,” BFP president Wayne Roggero said. 

“Any adviser should clearly identify botht he holder of the Australian Financial Services Licence under which they operate and the ultimate owner of that licensee,” he added. 

“By not doing this, consumers could be mislead.” 

According to Roy Morgan Research, the main area of confusion regarding the independence of financial planners occured when the planner is branded differently to the institution that owns the advice group. 

More than 50 per cent of clients using Commonwealth Bank-owned dealer group Financial Wisdom consider it to be independent, which is well ahead of the 21 per cent who consider Commonwealth Bank branded planners to be non-aligned. 

Similarly, 48 per cent of National Australia Bank’s Godfrey Pembroke clients think the group is non-aligned, compared to 15 per cent in the case of NAB Financial Planning.