Having joined MLC as a graduate in Perth in 1988, Tucker admits the investment landscape at the time heightened his interest in financial services.
“Nineteen eighty-eight was a very interesting time for the industry. It was recovering from what was a significant crash, there was a lot of reform going on around superannuation and it was just a very interesting time, so I still found it a good thing,” he says.
Looking back on his 20-plus years in the industry, Tucker rates his involvement in seeing financial planning evolve into a profession as his most significant achievement.
“I’m proud of the fact I’ve been involved in challenging the status quo and helping people think through the really tough issues around structural change that I think were holding the industry back for the last couple of years,” he says.
For the industry as a whole, Tucker feels the high points have also involved moves to improve transparency and better client outcomes.
“One of the highlights for me as a young manager in 1992 was seeing the industry move away from superannuation products with really high fees. Back then the commission on a super contract was 127.5 per cent of the first year’s premium and within two years we were down to a commission rate of about 5 per cent. That was a big change and it challenged a lot of advisers,” he says.
He cites the introduction of the Financial Services Reform Act as another significant change to the industry, but says the highlight to come out of that shift was the display of resilience shown by financial planning practitioners in the face of an increased educational and professional standard requirement imposed upon them.
“And I think more recently seeing the FPA and the IFSA (Investment and Financial Services Association) leadership around the difficult issue of commissions and transparency is a highlight,” he says.
At the other end of the spectrum, the industry collapses and disasters, such as Storm Financial, are what Tucker identifies as low lights.
“I continually get disappointed when I see things like Storm or other examples of damage done to retail investors that could be avoided because it impacts the reputation of all of us,” he says.
Tucker has identified the adequacy of retirement savings as an area he’d like to change if he had the chance to do so.
“I would’ve liked the government to continue with the push towards increasing the superannuation guarantee from 9 to 15 per cent to help Australians better prepare for an adequate retirement,” he says.
Innovation would seem to resonate as an important characteristic of the industry with Tucker and it is with this in mind that he nominates former head of Macquarie Alan Moss as the most influential person in the industry.
“What he did was create new products and structures for new markets and really took the Australian financial services capability to the world,” he says.
