Hewison stokes commissions debate

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.”