Regulation roadblock for retail investment
The Smartshares chief executive told viewers of a recent Financial Services Council webinar that while individual financial advice is still important, most investors just want to know things like how to read an annual report.
"And it's very hard in the current regime - you're either providing no advice or you are providing financial advice - and there doesn't seem to be much room in the middle for just being practical or sensible in helping people make good solid decisions."
He says the middle ground - which is not financial advice, it's just basic support - should be a focus for the country's financial regulators when they think about the future of retail investment.
Stevens was joined on the panel by the co-founder and general manager of Hatch, Kristen Lunman who says far from being naive, retail investors are pretty savvy and despite some mistrust of retail investment platforms across the industry, retail investors do not make many bad decisions.
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