Mark Spiers
Consumers are taking charge of their financial futures, taking up professional financial advice and giving honest feedback on their financial advisers so more Australians can benefit from the advice experience.
This is the response customers are providing on Adviser View, a website for consumers recently launched by BT Financial Group (BTFG) designed to improve the transparency of financial advice by giving consumers the power to search and compare financial advisers.
“Adviser View lifts the lid on what our customers think of their financial advice experience,” says Mark Spiers, General Manager of Advice, BTFG. “It provides them with a forum to give honest feedback on their adviser, the value of their advice, as well as information on their adviser’s education and professional backgrounds.”
Adviser View was developed in recognition that Australian consumers want greater transparency and more control of their financial future. Since its launch in October, Adviser View has had more than 32,700 (unique visits) Australians visiting the site, over 21,150 conducting searches for an adviser and over 800 comments.
“The message we are hearing from consumers is that getting financial advice feels good and it is worthwhile, terrific recognition of what the Australian financial advice industry can be,” says Mr Spiers.
Other consumer insights from Adviser View include*:
- Baby boomers dominate those seeking financial advice; 9% of users aged between 35-44years; 17% aged between 45-54 years; 34% aged between 55-64 years; and 27% aged 65+ years. Consumers start to become interested in financial advice once they hit their mid-forties.
- Male baby boomers more than double the number of women baby boomers seeking advice. Of the 34% of customers aged between 55-64 years, 10% are female and 23% are male. This gap narrows sharply as men and women move into retirement age.
- Consumers’ preference is to search by location, so accessibility to an adviser is a key issue with word of mouth the second way most people source an adviser.
- Speciality searches are used far less, an indication that consumers don’t have a good understanding of the range of areas where financial advisers can assist.For media enquiries contact
The new register was launched in conjunction with BTFG’s ‘Advice Commitment’, a public document outlining the service standards and commitments to customers of advice. Further detail on the educational and ethical standards for advisers going forward was also released.
“We were confident that giving Australian consumers the power to search and compare financial advisers and to read honest and untouched feedback from other consumers is a great step towards building more trust in our industry,” says Mr Spiers.
“Ensuring Australians can access financial advice how and when they want to, via sites such as Adviser View, means more Australians will have the opportunity to prepare for their futures and have better financial outcomes as a result.”
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* Statistics are based on the first 500 Adviser View customers as at 2 December 2014.