Consumers warming to financial planning
Richard Gilbert
The chief executive of the Investment and Financial Services Association, Richard Gilbert, has flagged that his organisation will be releasing new survey data on consumer sentiment towards financial services at its national conference starting in Brisbane tomorrow.
In an address to a financial services audience in New Zealand last week, Gilbert urged the adoption of a strong disclosure and licensing regime across the Tasman to underpin its evolving pensions savings system.
In doing so, he said that a strong customer disputes resolution system was essential and pointed to recent survey data gathered in Australia covering customer satisfaction levels with the activities of financial planners indicating they were running at substantially lower levels than in either the US or the United Kingdom.
He said the financial services industry needed to track customer sentiment on a range of concerns including quality of advice, the quality of investor materials, the level of fees and the reputation of the industry.
“These results should be responded to by the industry and it should be prepared to share these results with the community and government,” Gilbert said.
Looking at the performance of the Australian industry, he said it had delivered significantly better outcomes on advice, product trust and safety, fees and charges.
“Overall, on a range of 13 indicators, we have moved our industry score from 6.3 to 7.4 over an 18 month period,” Gilbert said.
AUTHOR
Mike Taylor
Recommended for you
With an advice M&A deal taking around six months to enact, two experts have shared their tips on how buyers and sellers can avoid “deal fatigue” and prevent potential deals from collapsing.
Several financial advisers have been shortlisted in the ninth annual Women in Finance Awards 2025, to be held on 14 November.
Digital advice tools are on the rise, but licensees will need to ensure they still meet adviser obligations or potentially risk a class action if clients lose money from a rogue algorithm.
Shaw and Partners has merged with Sydney wealth manager Kennedy Partners Wealth, while Ord Minnett has hired a private wealth adviser from Morgan Stanley.
