Could Newly Launched Financial Advice Register Cause Harm?

Respected business journalist Adele Ferguson reports that Treasury has watered down the proposed national public register of financial advisers, launched today by ASIC. After the crisis of confidence following poor advice scandals involving financial institutions such as the CBA and NAB, the registry was meant to help consumers track and select an adviser with confidence.

Higher Standard of Education & Training Required

Adele reports that a year ago industry operatives, in response to an ASIC review of training standards for financial advisers, agreed that it supported a higher standard of education and training for financial services professionals as a potential driver to improve the quality of advice provided to consumers, BUT, the industry still doesn’t agree.

Misleading Says Jeff Morris – CFP and whistleblower at CBA

Jeff Morris describes the situation as misleading.

“It is a retrograde step as the very existence of this emasculated adviser register is likely to induce a false sense of confidence on the part of consumers..

The real solution requires tougher penalties, higher education and an end to the inherently conflicted vertically integrated product flogging advice model.

You simply cannot have 80 per cent of a profession owned by vested interests.”

Disgraced Advisers Will Appear On The New Register

Jeff, in an interview with Fran Kelly on Radio National Breakfast, as a pointer to the dubious value of the register, states that the 41 disgraced NAB financial advisers, who have been sacked, or ‘moved on’, will appear on the register without a black mark against them.

Unlike similar registers in the US, the histories of Australian financial planners on this new register, is not sufficiently detailed, says Jeff.

Take care