As the financial advice industry undergoes another raft of legislative changes, research has shown that although advisers support the introduction of a statutory fiduciary duty, they are generally opposed to mandatory client opt-in agreements.
The full research report compiled by CoreData - commissioned by National Australia Bank's Financial Planning Banking team and the Association of Financial Advisers - was presented in Sydney yesterday.
The study revealed that 76.2 per cent of respondents strongly supported fiduciary duty while three in five gave the proposed requirement for clients to opt-in annually a rating of zero to three out of ten.
Meanwhile, respondents are divided over the prospective ban on commissions, with 42.8 per cent opposing the reform and a further 36.1 per cent strongly supporting it.
Almost 57 per cent expect a ban on commissions to have a negative impact but at the same time 25.2 per cent said they felt it would have a positive impact on clients.
The study showed there was also considerable opposition to the expansion of low-cost simple advice, with 57.2 per cent not supporting the intra-fund advice reform.
In terms of education, 62.4 per cent of respondents said they were likely to undertake further study within the next two years.
Research showed reforms, government intervention and competition from other providers are considered the biggest threats to the planning industry.
In the meantime, compliance and administration is considered the key issue for 64.1 per cent of respondents with 61.4 per cent feeling regulatory change would endanger adviser profits.
More than 1300 professionals from across the financial advice industry took part in the study.
