Advisers unfazed in face of royal commission

The company’s research found that 76.1 per cent of Australian advisers believe the outlook for their practices is for growth in 2018, with 52.2 per cent believing the financial advice industry was in for at least a ‘strong’ year.

Speaking to ifa, CoreData economist Andrew Inwood said the results were unexpected.

“I broadly expected the lens of the royal commission to suppress the business growth expectations but it hasn’t, they don’t think it pertains to them, they think it pertains to the licensees,” he said.

Mr Inwood said the advice industry has been “in the trenches for 10 years” with regard to changes in regulation, noting that advisers have been “under review pretty solidly” for the last decade and many advisers were now accustomed to it.

“The big surprise was that they’re ready for this, they’re kind of inured to the shock of yet another thing. Humans have this kind of coping mechanism which is hard-wired into us psychologically, where if you’re in a stressful time, that stress becomes normal,” he said.

“Superannuation, home-loan distribution and insurance haven’t really been reviewed in that time, and now they’ve been thrown into this review, so for them they’ve been on the sidelines observing it but now they’re a part of it. That’s where the pressure’s going to be.”