Findex says Murray report focus on the benefits of independent advice a positive move for both industry and consumers

Leading financial services group Findex today welcomed the interim Murray report and particularly the focus on the need for valuable, non-conflicted advice.

The Findex Group is Australia’s largest non-aligned and privately owned financial advisory company. It has businesses across the spectrum of the advice industry including middle range, high net worth, public sector and online. The business model is based on independence from investment products, transparent fee for service and non-conflicted advice.

Findex Chief Executive Officer Spiro Paule said the focus of the interim report on the quality of advice and delineation between sales and advice would be beneficial for consumers.

“At Findex, we believe that our industry can only thrive if we focus on building trust with our clients. Our clients do business with us because of our commitment to quality advice and transparency of services. An increased focus within the industry on transparency and delivering client value through quality outcomes will be beneficial to consumers, the industry and the Australian economy as a whole.

“We also firmly believe it is in the interests of the Australian public for the introduction of minimum standards for financial planners and the idea of a public register for financial planners. At Findex, we have very high standards of quality assurance for our Advisers and the service they provide. We believe this should be common place within the industry.”

Findex carries ISO 9001 certification, which is a global standard quality assurance system for manufacturing and service industries. Certification is re-affirmed through bi-annual audits. Findex is the only business of any scale in this industry to carry the certification.

“This certification is more common in machine reliant industries and is virtually non-existent in professional services. Its rarity in professional services is simply that people delivered processes rarely achieve “industrial quality” reliability.

Mr Paule said: “We operate in all sectors of the market and the common Findex thread is that we provide advice without bias to any financial products or financial product providers. Because we are not the owners of the products, we have the freedom to analyse the market and seek out the best of breed in any financial product category.

“We are opposed to a model where the providers of advice are also the manufacturers of the products recommended.”

Findex owns and operates Financial Index Wealth Accountants, Centric Wealth, Civic Financial Planning and the online advisory platform, MOVO.

Findex Group businesses have more than $8billion under portfolio management.