Consumer confidence needs a lift

Underlying hot topics like the fees versus commissions debate, Australia’s insurance gap and compliance is the need to boost consumer confidence and reinforce the value of advice, according to Alliance Bernstein chief executive, Michael Bargholz.

Speaking at the Investment and Financial Services Association (IFSA) conference on the Gold Coast, Bargholz said the industry as a whole needed to do everything it could to improve the public’s confidence.

“Every time something happens, such as Westpoint, it affects all of us, clients put us all in the same boat and the community sees those things as being the mainstream,” he said.

Bargholz emphasised the importance of acting in the best interests of the client at all times.

“There is only one stakeholder that counts — the end client,” he said.

“The industry is in a state of transition — we don’t need black letter law as much as we need the golden rule, that is, to put the client first,” he said. “In Australia we are never going to be the biggest, but we can be the best.”

Colonial First State Investments chief executive John Pearce suggested that educating the public about the value of advice played a key role in building consumer confidence.

“We need to communicate the value of advice and IFSA needs to play a part in getting this out,” he said.