Back to school for advisers

TheFinancial Planning Association(FPA) and theAustralian Securities and Investments Commission(ASIC) have joined forces in an attempt to improve written communication between financial planners and clients.

The Effective Communication of Financial Advice is a joint program consisting of a series of one day workshops to be piloted in Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane next month followed by a wider roll-out early next year.

"There has been a lot of emphasis put on the technical aspects of the law in financial planning, and this is an attempt to balance that out and focus more on the soft skills that are vital to this industry, like communication skills that are needed to convey complex issues to consumers," ASIC executive director consumer protection Peter Kell says.

The primary focus of the program will be ensuring that Statements of Advice are "clear, concise and effective".

"Often good advice is masked by poor communication. Good strategy can be undermined by jargon or generic material. We can improve on this," Kell says.

The pilot workshops will be financially supported byMLC, while training will be provided by the Communications Research Institute.

"There has been a degree of uncertainty associated with the new FSR regulations, people may be more cautious and focus on the technical side at the cost of the communication side," Kell says.

"We can both help planners in how they go about business and making sure consumers get advice that is understandable for them, which will in turn make them more confident about the decisions they are making."