Industry participants urged to unite to back advice and advisers

Mike Taylor

Managing Editor/Publisher, Financial Newswire

16 December 2022

Fund managers, platform providers, insurance companies, advice technology providers and other significant industry suppliers need to unite with financial advisers to promote the value of financial advice, according to a new white paper released ahead of the Quality of Advice Review (QAR) recommendations.

The whitepaper argues that financial advisers have for too long been left unsupported resulting in them being “kicked to the curb”.

The white paper, authored by former practicing financial advisers Harry Chemay and Brett Ebedes makes a call to action for fund managers, platform providers, insurance companies, advice technology providers and other significant industry suppliers to unite with advisers to create awareness.

“To band together and promote what advice is, where to get it and how it is beneficial. There is a clear problem and an opportunity to do something about it. Stakeholders who have a vested interest in their own success, and equally importantly helping end consumers through their products and services, need to work together and do so now,” it said.

“The industry is too fragmented, and key stakeholders need to be united in working towards a guiding vision: advice is valuable and consumers who obtain it are by and large better off. Alas, there remains a lack of voice and a lack of unification to tackle this issue and advocate on behalf of the wealth management industry, extolling the virtues of advice,” the white paper said.

“Without action, the advice industry will continue to shrink, other wealth management participants will be worse off, and so will the average consumer of financial advice.”

“Despite the Hayne Royal Commission and the egregious behaviour it uncovered, there are hundreds of thousands of advice recipients who are far better off for having received advice. This second side of the story, has unfortunately never been well told. Consequently, the wealth management industry, particularly the advice sector, persists in a state of decline.”

“It’s time for all wealth management participants to act, to control their own destiny! Because clearly the past 20+ years have shown no one is going to do it for them and this is an important industry and part of society, especially in such a wealthy country,” the white paper said.

“The industry funds carved out their stake, became a clear choice for a significant number of cohorts, and the remainder of the wealth management industry needs to do the same. This needs to be achieved via an advice led ethos, to grow the size (and share) of the pie for all and all wealth management stakeholders have a vested role to play in achieving this important outcome.”

The white paper has been supported by both OpenInvest and Fin365.