Software a potential distraction for financial planners
Improvements to advice delivery solutions may assist financial advisers in running a smoother business, but it can also pull them away from their core proposition of providing quality advice.
That's according to Midwinter Financial Services executive director, financial planning Andrew McClelland, who said that efficient back-office processing and the development of a raft of digital consultation tools can begin to dictate the way advisers deliver advice rather than adding any real benefit.
"It seems to sort of fly in the face of the best interest duty - this path of providing advice electronically becomes off-the-shelf advice, because you don't know much about the client," he said.
He said one area of concern was the desire of planners to incorporate digital signatures to speed up the statement of advice process over the phone.
This model works best where there is already an existing relationship with the client, he said.
"Notwithstanding fraud, I would like to see some checks and balances to ensure consistent advice quality does not suffer [in the absence of] personal interaction," he said.
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