Have you been to see a Financial Adviser and hoping for Independent Advice but come away disappointed that their advice has been focused on them selling you their preferred Financial Products? Sadly this experience is fairly wide spread with the majority of Financial Advisers not Independent. This was raised as one of the recommendations contained in the recent Hayne Royal Commission into Banking Misconduct. The reality the majority of Financial Advisers are employer or aligned with the Major Banks and Financial Institutions and their main job is to sell Financial Products.
Even Financial Advisers who are not part of a Bank Owned group are severely effected by the lure of commissions and are often putting their own financial well being ahead of their clients.
Recommendation 2.2 from the Hayne Royal Commision “Requiring a financial adviser to disclose their lack of independence if they are not independent as defined by s 923A of the corporations act”
This change is currently being implemented by the government and ASIC is seeking consultation in the changes in Consultation Paper 329 with the requirement to disclose lack of independence proposed to commence on June 30 2020. This changes is long overdue in my opinion as the reality the majority of Financial Advisers are employer or aligned with the Major Banks and Financial Institutions and their main job is to sell Financial Products., going forwards you will easily and quickly be able to tell if the financial advice you are receiving is Independent of conflicts of interest and so much more likely to be in your best interest. If you are seeing a “Financial Adviser” its worth asking them if they are providing Independent Advice.
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