Independent advice focus of new study
A new project will examine the value of independent advice and seek to determine the number of Australian financial planners that consider themselves to be independent, as well as gauge consumer demand for their services.
FSI Consulting director and project founder Brett Walker said that although the Corporations Act offered a restrictive definition of what it meant to be “independent”, “unbiased” or “impartial”, no reliable data existed on the number of advisers who provided independent advice or the level of consumer demand for such services.
“Everybody has a feeling that there would generally be quite good public demand for that kind of service, but at the moment it’s really anyone’s guess how many independent advisers there are out there,” he said.
To be considered independent, according to the Corporations Act’s definition, advisers must rebate all commissions received in full to their clients.
Walker said the project would identify advisers who were independent, or wished to be so. It would then analyse the business to confirm it met the tests of independence.
“The methodology is about helping people to understand what the section [of the Act] means and helping them review their business and achieve independence through, if necessary, adjusting how they operate,” he said.
According to Walker, by publicising their independence, advisers would “stand out from the crowd” in an environment where they lacked the marketing resources available to larger institutions.
Walker said the project also aimed to determine public opinion on the value of seeking independent advice.
Recommended for you
With the final tally for FY25 now confirmed, how many advisers left during the financial year and how does it compare to the previous year?
HUB24 has appointed Matt Willis from Vanguard as an executive general manager of platform growth to strengthen the platform’s relationships with industry stakeholders.
Investment manager Drummond Capital Partners has announced a raft of adviser-focused updates, including a practice growth division, relaunched manager research capabilities, and a passive model portfolio suite.
When it comes to M&A activity, the share of financial buyers such as private equity firms in Australia fell from 67 per cent to 12 per cent in the last financial year.
