Five years until industry recovers, firm predicts

Speaking to ifa, Hindsight Wealth co-founder and director Daniel Jones said that, given the banking royal commission, the incoming FASEA standards and the ageing adviser population, there will be a mass exodus of the industry.

“For a younger group such as ours, it's a really good opportunity for advice firms that are going to get in there and follow all the laws and doing the education and come out the other side,” Mr Jones said.

“It's going to be tough but, in five or six years, I just think it will be sensational and it will be awesome again.”

Mr Jones’ comments echo that of the SMSF Association, which says many of its members who are close to retirement could be forced out of the industry under FASEA’s proposed education requirements.

Under the new professional standards, advisers on the financial adviser register between 1 January 2016 and 1 January 2019 will have until 1 January 2021 to complete FASEA’s adviser exam, and until 1 January 2024 to complete an approved degree.

Fellow Hindsight Wealth co-founder and director Liam Price told ifa that he has mixed feelings about the banking royal commission.

While he thinks it is fantastic that there will be changes that will benefit the advice industry in the long run as a result of the royal commission, he’s also disappointed with the damage that it has done to the industry.

“I'm certainly disappointed in the institutions that have brought it to this end. But for us to get pulled into this and the trust of a financial adviser to fall even more as a result of it, it's so frustrating to continually be in the news and for damages to clients and not having the client’s best interests at heart,” Mr Price said.

“I'm disappointed in the industry, but I want it to recover. I want it to be the profession that it should be, but I just don't know what it's going to take to get it back there. I don't know what it's going to take for the public to start trusting us again.”

Adrian Flores

Adrian Flores is a deputy editor at Momentum Media, focusing mainly on banking, wealth management and financial services. He has also written for Public Accountant, Accountants Daily and The CEO Magazine.

You can contact him on [email protected].