Long-serving adviser thumbs nose at authorisation

Strategy Financial Services' Graeme Lindsay, who has 40 years in the industry, says he has yet to get a straight answer from officials overseeing the implementation of the new regime, but last week's draft code of conduct has convinced him that advisers who deal solely with risk-based life and health insurance products will not need to be authorised.

When assessing a client's needs, "someone working in life insurance doesn't do complete analysis, they only analyse a component of a person's financial affairs," Lindsay told Good Returns. He says that provided life insurance advisers do not venture into the realm of savings and investment advice, they will not be advising on Category One products and should not need to be authorised.

Lindsay warns that if advisers like him are caught under the new regime, there will be an exodus of experienced people, who do not see the need to go through unnecessary training.

Vance Arkinstall, chief executive of the Investment Savings and Insurance Association, agrees there is a lack of clarity about life insurance advisers' need to get authorisation, with the main area of contention being whether needs analysis will be classified as financial planning.