Advice industry 'trench warfare' scaring consumers
|
|
Financial planners need to stop fighting “trench warfare” over different models of advice before it drives away the consumer, according to the managing director of Snowball, Tony McDonald.
Speaking to Money Management, McDonald said the infighting in the industry, coupled with government intervention in super and financial planning, was creating too much confusion for the consumer and driving them towards their own solutions.
“There is a real danger the consumer is watching all this trench warfare, and the Government is throwing up more confusion some days, [that] consumer will turn around and say [that] it is all too hard [for them to deal with],” McDonald said.
Consumer interest in ‘value for money’ products, or transparent solutions such as direct shares, property and self-managed solutions, was rising as consumers became more aware of the different investment options and became more sceptical of the industry, McDonald said.
Snowball’s consumer research had also shown that the level of consumer distrust towards advisers, public sector funds and industry funds was the same, proving that the consumer was not being affected into the industry’s arguments between industry funds, retail funds, and financial planners, he said.
McDonald said the industry was being distracted by infighting, when the consumer was simply interested in getting value for money for financial solutions.
“You can have all this noise among the industry’s protagonists, [but] at the end of the day the consumer is sitting here and thinking that they want value for money and to see and understand what they are getting,” he said.
Recommended for you
A financial advice firm has been penalised $11 million in the Federal Court for providing ‘cookie cutter advice’ to its clients and breaching conflicted remuneration rules.
Insignia Financial has experienced total quarterly net outflows of $1.8 billion as a result of client rebalancing, while its multi-asset flows halved from the prior quarter.
Prime Financial is looking to shed its “sleeping giant” reputation with larger M&A transactions going forward, having agreed to acquire research firm Lincoln Indicators.
An affiliate of Pinnacle Investment Management has expanded its reach with a London office as the fund manager seeks to grow its overseas distribution into the UK and Europe.
