- FSC Appoints New Director of Policy;
- Advisers Focused on Planning and Communicating;
- Lack of Plan and Confidence Hindering Financial Goals
FSC Appoints New Director of Policy
The Financial Services Council (FSC) has named Allan Hansell, a former ANZ Wealth staffer as its new Director of Policy, filling the role vacated by the recent departure of Andrew Bragg.
Hansell joins the FSC after six years with ANZ Wealth where he held the role of Senior Manager, Government and Regulatory Affairs, having also held a similar role at ING Australia.
He has also held roles as the national government relations manager with the Insurance Council of Australia from 2001-2007 and as a senior adviser to Ministers in the NSW and Victorian governments.
Advisers Focused on Planning and Communicating
Financial advice practices will be focusing on business planning, client communications and marketing during 2017, according to new research released by Zurich Financial Services Australia.
The ‘Designing the Future’ research, conducted by The Beddoes Institute on behalf of Zurich and based on responses from 184 practices, found advice businesses also planned on focusing on social media strategies, client segmentation, workflow management and financial management tracking.
Zurich Financial Services Australia Head of Distribution, Kristine Brooks said practices were looking at changes in areas where they considered themselves vulnerable and were following trend seen in the same survey at the start of 2016.
Report Co-Author and Director of The Beddoes Institute, Dr Adam Tucker said the focus on business investment was a lead indicator of renewed health and optimism within the advice sector.
Lack of Plan and Confidence Hindering Financial Goals
Around 50% of Australians are not confident in their ability to reach their financial goals while only around 25% have any plan to reach those goals, according to the latest MLC Wealth Sentiment Survey.
The survey found that self-doubt ranked above not earning enough money (32% of respondents) but these two factors were of greater concern than financial risk or spending more than they earn.
NAB Corporate Super General Manager, Lara Bourguignon said the survey also found a considerable number of people had no plan to save and invest which was likely to add to a lack of confidence in dealing with money and investments.
“The research highlights an important connection between planning and confidence in reaching financial goals. With so few people having a financial plan, we perhaps shouldn’t be surprised that Australians doubt themselves and don’t believe they have done enough to reach their wealth goals. Having a financial plan is crucial to feeling empowered and getting where you want to go with your money,” Bourguignon said.
