Hewison stokes commissions debate

FPA/commissions/financial-advice/financial-services-industry/investments-commission/australian-securities-and-investments-commission/chief-executive/chairman/

2 July 2008
| By Mike Taylor |
image
image
expand image

John Hewison

A former chairman of the Financial Planning Association (FPA) has called on the organisation to take the lead in banning commissions in the provision of financial advice.

The chief executive of Melbourne-based planning firm Hewison and Associates, John Hewison, today went to the trouble of retaining a public relations consultancy to get the message out that he believed the time for rhetoric was over and that commissions in the financial services industry should be banned.

He said he believes the integrity of the financial advice profession needed to be addressed by both regulators and the profession.

“In a perfect world the Australian Securities and Investments Commission would ban commissions and the FPA would do likewise,” Hewison said. “But the reality is that the regulator won’t take on the big end of town, so the FPA needs to step up and take a firm stance as the rightful guardian of the profession and the surrogate protector of the consumer.

“There is no doubt that it would be a gutsy move for the FPA as there would be a huge backlash from the institutions that have a foot in both camps,” he said. “But in my view, the FPA would weather that storm and come out of it with an even higher standing, because the community would know it fought for their right to untainted financial advice.”

Read more about:

AUTHOR

Recommended for you

sub-bgsidebar subscription

Never miss the latest news and developments in wealth management industry

MARKET INSIGHTS

So we are now underwriting criminal scams?...

2 months 3 weeks ago

Glad to see the back of you Steve. You made financial more expensive, not more affordable as you claim, and presided ...

2 months 3 weeks ago

Completely agree Peter. The definition of 'significant change is circumstances relevant to the scope of the advice' is s...

4 months 4 weeks ago

ASIC has suspended the Australian Financial Services Licence of a Melbourne-based financial advice firm....

1 week 5 days ago

The corporate regulator has issued infringement notices to three AFSLs whose financial advisers provided personal advice to a retail client while unregistered....

2 weeks 3 days ago

ASIC has released the results of its first adviser exam to be held in 2025, with 241 candidates attempting the test....

3 weeks 1 day ago

TOP PERFORMING FUNDS

ACS FIXED INT - AUSTRALIA/GLOBAL BOND