My mother is a psychologist, and I remember her saying to me that everyone loves change until it impacts them. Hidden behind those words is the natural fear that change evokes, the discomfort of venturing into new territory, the malaise of the unfamiliar.
Last year, and continuing on into this year, the financial services industry has undergone unprecedented change. The impact of these changes has varied enormously company by company and from one individual to another, but there is no doubt we have all been hit.
Royal Commission news has dominated the start of the year however another threat and incredible opportunity is FASEA’s new educational standards. How we are going to work together respond to that challenge? The headlines understandably concentrate on the downside of the new regulations however there is also enormous opportunity emerging for those advisers that see the changes as an opportunity to restore trust in those investors that we serve.
As a platform provider, it is incomprehensible to me how any platforms provider cannot see the danger to the value of their own businesses and to the advice sector when the very distribution channel that has built the value and FUA of every major platform in the Australian market projects 25% of advisers will leave the industry due to these new FASEA requirements.
At OneVue we decided we would not sit idly by as many seasoned advisers contemplate leaving the industry because of the new world FASEA is introducing. For many, writing high-pressure exams and the thought of failing is humiliating and unpalatable. So we created a mantra – no adviser should feel they have to leave the industry due to fear of the unknown. They should only leave because they wish to.
Importantly the OneVue team started working with the industry bodies to create a FASEA toolkit which provides a simple, interactive learning experience and helpful tips for new entrants and veterans of the industry to get ahead regardless of where they are and what experience they have.
We will also continue to work with FASEA and the FPA to build out practice exams once the actual examination materials become available.
The more we can enable advisers to practice answering the type of questions that will be asked in a FASEA exam in a safe environment where the results are not made public, the more familiar the advisers will become of what will be expected of them in the exams when they count. Similar in a way to studying for the HSC by going through previous exams and practicing answering questions “off broadway” before the real thing happens.
Suddenly the unfamiliar will become familiar and good advisers who are afraid of being bad exam writers will hopefully gain the confidence needed to stay in the industry and continue to make a difference every day to people in desperate need of their assistance.
The OneVue FASEA toolkit is now available to all advisers for free. You don’t have to be a OneVue platform supporter. We want good advisers to stay in the industry regardless of the Platform they support. Advisers have given so much to the platform industry over the years, the least the platform sector can do is give back to those that have helped create this industry.
The Royal Commission highlighted what is wrong in the industry but we know there is also a lot of right out there. Let’s work together to create an environment where the many advisers doing the right thing by clients get to stay in an industry needing to change, but where good advisers are part of that change not parting ways because of it.
Shoulder to shoulder,
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