Banks impose planner hiring protocol
The Australian Bankers' Association (ABA) has released a protocol it says its member banks will be using when employing financial advisers.
The protocol, released today, was intended to make it easier for banks to check how financial advisers had performed in their previous jobs and set minimum standards for reference checking and sharing information
Announcing the move today, ABA executive director, retail policy, Diane Tate, said sometimes a financial adviser could be removed from one financial institution for poor conduct, only to turn up working and continuing their poor practices at another.
"To help avoid this, the banking industry has developed a protocol to make it easier to check how financial advisers have performed in previous jobs," she said.
"This will better identify financial advisers who have not met the industry's minimum legal and ethical standards, and help employers make more informed recruitment decisions."
Tate said the protocol set minimum standards for checking references and sharing information, through a series of standardised questions and record keeping practices.
"This is an important step by the banking industry to improve the quality of advice, support the professionalisation of the financial advice industry and build trust and confidence in banks," she said.
Tate said the subscribing licensees to the protocol represented 38 per cent of the entire financial advice market and that banks and other financial advice providers could become a subscribing licensee by contacting the ABA.
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