Aussie trade body wants to ban the term robo-advice

Australia-based The Advisers Association (TAA) has called for more crackdown on people who call themselves a ‘financial adviser’ or ‘financial planner’ when they are not.

It has also added that “it is time to address financial product information being called advice when it is not”.

TAA is calling for the term ‘intra-fund advice’ to be renamed ‘intra-fund information’ and robo-advice to be changed to robo-information.

Neil Macdonald, TAA chief executive, said: “In the interests of consumer education and transparency, it is time to call spades, spades. Our preference is to remove the term ‘general advice’.

“As we in the financial advice profession know, true personal financial advice has to consider and meet the client’s best interests obligation and includes an extensive process which involves investigation of the client’s needs, detailed analysis of their circumstances, research into the most suitable products and services to meet those needs, development of a strategy and the production of a statement of advice that outlines solutions to help them meet those needs.

“This extensive process is not followed by those providing general advice, intra-fund advice or robo-advice. It is essential that those financial product services are renamed, so that they are not mistaken by consumers for personal financial advice.”

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Source: Aussie trade body wants to ban the term robo-advice | International Adviser