Westpac adviser register uncensored

Yesterday, BT Financial Group announced the launch of ‘Adviser View’, a new public register of financial advisers in Westpac’s salaried bank and aligned dealer group channels, alongside a new ‘advice commitment’ document and new education standards.

Speaking to ifa, BT head of advice Mark Spiers said the register is about shepherding in a “new era” in which advice is “more accessible and more transparent”, which means allowing consumers to post comments about negative experiences with advisers.

“I think consumers are very savvy, they can tell the difference between truly below-standard service and a 'one-off',” Mr Spiers said.

“If one of our advisers receives a poor rating then that is a great resource for us to know how better to service that adviser and whether they may need additional training.”

Mr Spiers said BT intends for the website to have an “honest” approach to content publication, with only defamatory and derogatory content to be edited out and all other “verbatim comments” to be published.

The register is currently up and running for salaried bank advisers, with authorised reps of Securitor and Magnitude to be included over time on an “opt in” basis.

“Not all of the aligned [advisers] will want to be included,” he explained, adding, however, that he is confident most are supportive of the move.

Westpac will be directing traffic to the Adviser View portal from its consumer-facing websites.

“We don’t want this to be a secret,” Mr Spiers said.