The Australian regulator ASIC has released its new research today. The research, named Financial advice: Mind the gap, revealed that many consumers confuse ‘general’ and ‘personal’ advice, which means that they could frequently make poor financial decisions.
Karen Chester, ASIC
ASIC Deputy Chair, Karen Chester, commented:
This disturbing gap in understanding whether the advice they are getting is personal or not means many consumers are under the false premise their interests are being prioritised, when no such protection exists.
ASIC anticipates the need for financial advice to grow, highlighting the importance of consumer awareness and understanding of the distinction between personal and general advice with the Future of Financial Advice (FOFA) protections only applying when personal advice is provided.
The survey not only revealed consumers are not familiar with the concepts of general and personal advice, but only 53 per cent of those surveyed correctly identified ‘general’ advice. And even when provided the general advice warning, nearly 40 per cent of those surveyed wrongly believed the adviser had an obligation to take their personal circumstances into account,” Ms Chester said.
The survey also revealed that the responsibilities of financial advisers, when providing general advice, is not well understood. Nearly 40 per cent of those surveyed were unaware that advisers were not required by law to act in their clients’ best interests,” Ms Chester added.
ASIC is seeing increased sales of complex financial products under general advice models – so not tailored to personal circumstances – leaving many consumers, especially retirees, exposed to the potential risk of financial loss. And whilst the Financial Services Royal Commission, and the Government’s response, dealt with the most egregious risks of hawking of complex financial products, consumer confusion about what is personal and general advice needs to be addressed,” Ms Chester explained.
This consumer research is timely. It comes as the Government is considering policy recommendations on financial advice from the Productivity Commission’s twin reports on Australia’s financial and superannuation systems. And at a time when the financial system itself undergoes much change, following the intense scrutiny of the Financial Services Royal Commission, including considering new financial advice and distribution business models,” she concluded.