Licensee transparency far more urgent than advice registerBY LAURA MILLAN | THURSDAY, 14 AUG 2014 12:40PMEstablishing a clear and transparent standard for licensees to provide references when an adviser leaves a dealer group is more urgent than the government's advice register, the Association of Financial Advisers (AFA) chief executive Brad Fox said. Related News |
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Both concepts are vital to the broader community for different reasons.
Brad is correct, transparency in why advisers move licensees has very good chance of "weeding out any bad apples" thus protecting the community from the few remaining unethical advisers.
But the adviser register, if constructed properly, should allow every member of the publlic to instanty assess whether "their adviser or prospective adviser" is a true fiduciary or a well intentioned but conflicted planner who serves a product manufacturer or platform provider.
Nice idea, but what about if an adviser leaves a Dealer Group who has been acting fraudulently?
What if the adviser has reported the dodgy dealer group to ASIC and no action has been taken and the fraud not uncovered even through ASIC were told exactly where to investigate?
I agree totally with Peter's second point