Aligned, non-aligned? Clients don’t care
Whether an adviser is aligned or non-aligned to major banking institution should be irrelevant, provided clients are receiving appropriate advice, according to major insurer TAL.
The insurer has used its second submission to the Financial Systems Inquiry to argue that in reality there is little consumer interest in whether financial planners are aligned or non-aligned and therefore the focus should be on the delivery of quality advice.
"TAL believes the focus of advice should be on ensuring it is high quality and appropriate for the client," it said. "Provided consumers are getting advice which is appropriate to their needs, alignment is and should be irrelevant."
"However, we believe the ownership relationship should be disclosed to the consumer. TAL currently adopts this approach with Affinia, clearly stating that it is ‘backed by TAL' on its logo," the submission said.
It said that TAL did not believe consumers were sensitive to differences in the price of independent or aligned advice.
"Customers appear to be very sensitive to the cost of advice, in the absence of a compelling value proposition, but we are not aware of any evidence to support the notion that price sensitivity is linked to the independence of the adviser," the TAL submission said.
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