There’s a growing chorus of voices with good news for independent or non-aligned financial planning businesses: There is life after FoFA.
And not only that, there’s a very good life to be had, as the Future of Financial Advice changes take effect and as the public begins to grasp just what professional financial planning is really all about.
Research released in January by Roy Morgan Research confirmed that the “Big Six” financial institutions’ continuing preference to pump clients’ money into in-house products is still one of the main reasons for public mistrust of the financial planning industry.
It found that significant numbers of clients of institutionally owned financial planning firms were unaware that their financial planner was the property of an institution.
Writing on the Professional Planner website before Christmas, Bailey Roberts Group director Leith Thomas proclaimed there was “no better time” to be an independent financial planner, and he dismissed concerns that the FoFA changes spelled doom for independents.
Thomas wrote: “Rounding out the best year our independent group has ever experienced, I find this perspective interesting to say the least.”
“For our dealer group, we have looked at the reforms as an opportunity.
“We identified some time ago that what clients are really seeking is a relationship with a trusted adviser that is actively involved with the management of their financial assets.”
And adding to the good news is the fact that competition is beginning to increase among those providing services to independents.
Omniwealth managing director Matthew Kidd said late last year that “it is challenging times for advisers who face the prospect of losing their independence post-FoFA”.
But Kidd added that “by providing them with knowledge, best-of-breed services and the means to strengthen their own offerings through outsourcing, we expect to attract a significant number of independent advisers to our service over the next year”.
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