The vast majority of advisers do not believe they are perceived as professional, but nearly all want to see this change, according to attendees at the recently completed AFA National Roadshows.
During his address to advisers at the events, AFA CEO, Brad Fox, asked attendees whether they believed the public perceived financial advice as a profession. He said that, in all venues, only the odd hand was raised in response to the question. The ex-adviser then asked his peers if they would like to be seen as professionals, and was met with a sea of hands in response.
“All the research we’ve done says that the clients that are already in advice relationships do trust us; they rate us really highly,” Mr Fox said. “But we’ve got to get the message across, broader and wider, that people should be seeking advice, and that they should be seeking it from a licensed financial adviser.”
Mr Fox used the example of teams competing for an AFL premiership to highlight that it is not just the best of the best who drive performance.
… we’ve got to get the message across, broader and wider, that people should be seeking advice
“In AFL, to win a premiership, it usually comes down to how strongly the last seven players in your team perform. There are 22 players on the paddock. How numbers 16-22 perform, those last seven, ultimately determines whether or not you’re likely to win the premiership. That’s where the winning teams invest their energy. They’ve got their three or four stars, and that’s fine, but they can’t win a premiership with just that. They work on bringing up the bottom seven.
“Treat financial advice as a huge community, a huge team. What do our bottom seven look like, and are they holding us back from getting a premiership? Those bottom seven – we need them in the team. You can’t run out into an AFL Grand Final with only 15 players, you need 22. I’m not saying the bottom seven don’t deserve to be in our industry. I’m not saying they’re not compliant. I’m not saying they’re not good. But they need to be better.
“And we’ve got a shared responsibility to raise that bottom seven so that we’re a premiership team. Our premiership is achieving the universally recognised, trusted status in the Australian community.”
Nick Hakes, Head of Campus AFA, also delivered a strong message about professionalism to roadshow attendees, warning that it’s not just a matter of acting in a professional or ethical manner, but whether clients see the evidence of that behaviour.
This is not a question of whether we are ethical or professional, or not. It’s about how we demonstrate that better in the eyes of the consumer
“This is not a question of whether we are ethical or professional. It’s about how we demonstrate that better in the eyes of the consumer,” Mr Hakes said.
He explained that while education was a key part of becoming a professional, it was also about demonstrating the right behaviours and attitude.
“I think it’s what lies beneath that truly matters. It’s about this aspirational vision of where you want to get to, and how you want to be perceived. It’s about the values that you hold very dearly, and that determine the types of relationships you hold with your stakeholders. It is about the principles that guide your behaviours. And it’s about the standards that we continue to invest in and uplift, so we can all be a little bit better than before.
“The minimum standards aren’t the start. It’s the continual uplifting of standards – that’s where the finish is.”
Discussing this is, in my view, a complete waste of time and energy. Who really cares what the public thinks. What matters is what our clients think of us. I believe that they view me as a very qualified adviser, both academically and in my particular field and acting in their best interests.
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