Too busy to keep up with the latest industry developments? Here are a selection of news items from the past week to keep you in the loop including advice on selling your practice, complying with the Future of Financial Advice reforms, winning awards and the views of your clients.
The Advice Exchange
Boutique financial services firm, The Advice Exchange, has found in a survey of 200 advisers, that most are relying upon their dealer groups only for compliance and systems administration. And that most are not utilising marketing or business development services that may be offered by their licencee. Managing director of The Advice Exchange, Andrew Doquile, said advisers must think about the longer term profitability of their business and should take advantage of any help their dealer group can give them to grow their business.
“We think it makes absolute sense that with the looming FoFA deadline, compliance is foremost in advisers’ minds. Marketing and business development have slipped to the bottom of their priority list,” he said.
“But advisers need to ensure they maintain focus on growing their business, regardless of what changes are happening at the regulatory level. Particularly if they are planning on selling their practice in the next five to 10 years.”
According to the survey, more than 60 per cent of advisers rated corporate governance as the number one (47 per cent) or number two (17 per cent) service they most value for their dealer fees. Around 55 per cent ranked administration and processing support as the most important (29.7 per cent) or second most important (25.3 per cent) service. Just 9 and 11 per cent valued marketing and business development as the most important services respectively.
Are you aligned?
When the Future of Financial Advice (FoFA) regime kicks off on July 1, the buzzword for all financial planners, dealer groups and licensees should be “alignment”. And Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) commissioner Peter Kell says planners should view the development of codes of practice as a way to enhance that objective, rather than as a way to avoid legal obligations under FoFA.
Kell says ASIC’s immediate focus in the FoFA era will be on whether planners’ business models align with the best interests of clients. Kell says it is “a bit simplistic” to sum up the regulators focus in one word – alignment – but “that’s the best way of doing it”.
“Typically where we have found problems in the past, it’s where there hasn’t been alignment between the adviser and the interests of the client,” he says.
“FoFA provides a number of structural changes to help facilitate that alignment; what we hope to see is that the industry takes the opportunity to build on that and run with the idea itself.”
Genesys picks winners
AMP’s Genesys Wealth Advisers have announced the recipients of its adviser recognition awards. Stanford Brown Financial Advisers picked up both the Member Firm of the Year Award for wealth management expertise and the Ballesty Sikemma Award for outstanding professional performance by an individual adviser, David Brown.
Sacha Sanders from Potential Private Wealth was honoured with the Richard Harvey Award, which recognises excellence in up-and-coming advisers. Genesys Wealth Advisers managing director Paul Robertson said the awards are an opportunity to step back and reflect on what it means to be a financial adviser in today’s community.
“Our time is spent guiding clients through their financial lives, providing them with one of the ingredients for their future well-being, so it’s important to recognise advisers who excel at what they do,” he said.
AFA tests positive
The Association of Financial Advisers has committed itself to being more positive about industry change over 2013 as new research reveals both threats and opportunities for members.
While conceding that the association has been defensive over consumer-driven industry reforms, chief executive Brad Fox said the AFA would now be on the front foot having secured “a reasonable amount of evidence to support change”.
The blueprint in question is New Frontiers: The Age of Consumers, research conducted in conjunction with Business Health and AIA, which the association released to the media yesterday (Tuesday).
Based on the views of over 12,000 people who have used a financial adviser in the past four years, the AFA white paper suggests that the majority have had a positive experience, but that there is plenty of room for improvement.
