[The Wrap] A bouquet and a bloody big brick bat

This week had good and bad news for financial advisers. Advisers were spared a shake up of the big decision maker for their future; but then more anti-adviser sentiment was pouring from an organisation which should be a bastion of objectivity.

Friday, June 28th 2019, 6:03PM

Kris Faafoi

First up, I think the industry can breathe a sigh of relief. Prime Minister Jacinda Arden promoted Commerce Minister Kris Faafoi to cabinet yesterday and there was a fear a new minister would be overseeing the financial advice sector.

Faafoi has been well-regarded across the industry so it was pleasing that he was promoted, but also kept the Commerce portfolio. While the FSLAA is now enacted there is still more work to do in our space. Having ministerial continuity is welcomed (even if some people reckon MBIE are the key proponents of the changes).

One of the big stories this week was MBIE's assessment that the new FSLAA laws may push 900 advisers out of the market.

It's an area we are particularly interested in. This week Good Returns started a survey to try and gauge what advisers are thinking when it comes time to exit. If you are thinking of hanging up your shingle, please take a few minutes to complete the survey. CLICK HERE TO GET STARTED.

It would also be interesting to hear your thoughts on this 900 number. You can email them to philip@goodreturns.co.nz

Losing nearly 1000 advisers seems like a lot, but maybe it is just a changing of the guard?

THE REAL STORY CONSUMER IGNORES

The soapbox issue for me this week is Consumer's survey of its members around insurance. For a reputable organisation this piece of work was a real blot on its record book. Indeed it was nothing more than a call to its members to fill in a templated moan form and send it to MBIE which is doing some work on the proposed amendments to the Insurance Contracts Law.

The survey was poor as it didn't separate out the difference insurance sectors such as life, fire and general and travel. To lump them all together is not representative of the level of trust and complaints.

Then to compare results from advised life insurance clients to ones who brought directly is no doubt statistically irrelevant. We know very little life insurance is bought directly.

If you really want to know proper answers to the questions Consumer asked talk to the external disputes resolution schemes like FSCL and Fairway. They will prove that there are relatively few complaint around life insurance and much higher figures in the other insurance areas.

Likewise, how about looking at how many millions of dollars life companies pay out in claims each day?

To really illustrate the story. I want to recall two stories from my recent MDRT conference trip. The first is about veteran adviser Peter Chote. Life insurance companies have paid nearly $4 million in claims to his clients in the most recent quarter. I bet if any of those people were surveyed by Consumer then they would give a glowing endorsement of their adviser and the life companies.

The second story is about MDRT South Island chair Brian Burgess. One of his clients wrote this piece in Stuff, Cancer snuck up on me, recently about his insurance and medical issues. Unfortunately he died around the time we left for MDRT. To give you an idea of how important their adviser was to this family, they delayed the memorial service until Burgess was back in New Zealand so he could attend and speak.

As Burgess said; "This why we do it folks..."

The important point is the role advisers play in assisting with claims and supporting their claimants and the millions of dollars paid out by the industry in claims for the living trauma, TPD and income protection.

These are the real stories Consumer should be talking about.

Tags: Consumer