Less than a quarter of consumers believe financial advisers operate with integrity, according to a survey conducted by the Australian Securities and Investments Commission.
The regulator has released the findings of its annual stakeholder survey, which includes an analysis of the market in which ASIC operates. To measure this, consumers were asked about the integrity of financial services gatekeepers, and their perceptions of how providers managed conflicts of interest.
Just 23% of consumers agreed that financial advisers acted with integrity. 30% disagreed with the statement, and a further 13% said they did not know enough to say whether advisers acted with integrity.
Product providers, including insurers, banks, and superannuation providers, scored slightly higher, with only one-quarter of respondents questioning their integrity.
23% of consumers agreed that financial advisers acted with integrity
Consumers were also concerned about the industry’s ability to manage conflicts of interest, with just 20% saying they agreed that the financial services industry dealt with conflicts appropriately.
Despite these results, ASIC said the feedback received from consumers and stakeholders from within the industry was largely positive, and it listed its ability to hold financial services organisations to account as one of its strengths.
However, the regulator identified the following four areas as needing improvement:
- Acting quickly to investigate breaches of the law
- Clearly communicating what ASIC is doing
- Reducing the red tape associated with compliance
- Being sufficiently resourced to do its job
“These findings are an opportunity to either communicate better to correct misperceptions, or improve the way we do things,” said ASIC Chairman, Greg Medcraft, adding that the regulator had taken the preliminary steps to respond to these limitations.
The survey was designed to measure whether ASIC is delivering on its three strategic priorities:
- Confident and informed investors and financial consumers
- Fair and efficient financial markets
- Efficient registration and licensing
Click here to view ASIC’s report.
Seriously. Do we have to keep going through these surveys? Please do a survey on people who have actually seen an adviser and experienced what we do. I don’t care what people who I don’t know or haven’t met think of me.
I could not agree more with Jason. Who do the people doing these surveys actually see? As far as I am aware, not one of my clients has ever been “surveyed’ or asked about my integrity! I have a long list of clients for whom I have personally handled claims over many years and I am certain they have never been “surveyed” and I am sure Jason would say the same.
I often wonder whether or not some of these “survey” are a complete fabrication and one thing is sure I do not lie awake at night worrying about my “integrity”.
A survey can have a positive or negative result based on the type of questions asked and the experiance of the participants.
To make a survey truly effective, it is important to dig a bit deeper than simply asking a diverse group of people a series of questions, without knowing what actual experiance these people have around the topic.
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