BT leads cabal past legacy
If an organisation decided to stop paying grandfathered commissions on advice, "the reality is it would put themselves in a very significant competitive disadvantage, in the sense that the commissions that are being received by dealer groups and advisers - to supplement their advice and subsidise their advice - that would stop," Michael Wright from Westpac told the Hayne Royal Commission on Friday.Wright, general manager for financial advice at BT, said such a move "would have significant brand damage on that product provider."The last piece in the puzzle, Wright said, are the "hundreds, thousands, of small businesses, partnerships and corporate structures that employ financial advisers to help customers. "Moving those trails overnight would impact, potentially, the viability of their businesses."The bulk of advice businesses are taking control of their futures.GlobalData shared research that "financial planners are likely to ditch the big four banks (Commonwealth, ANZ, NAB and Westpac and AMP to set up their own businesses. "In an industry plagued by a shortage of talent, that will be a big headache for Australia's wealth giants."Heike van den Hoevel, Wealth Management Analyst at GlobalData said its "Global Wealth Managers Survey shows that 80 per cent of wealth managers already agree that it is increasingly difficult to hire new relationship managers or other front-line staff."He goes on to note that: "there has been a 41 per cent upsurge in the number of financial advisers in Australia from around 18,000 in late 2009 to more than 25,000 in 2017. "However, the commission has learnt that only 35 per cent of them hold a relevant university degree. To address the issue, new compulsory education requirements for both new and existing financial advisors will come into effect on 1 January 2019."Michael Wright told the Royal Commission "I can't wait for the day when we are fully 'fee for service' for insurance and super. We have seen it's possible. I think for it to occur though, the debate needs to rage. I do think legislation needs to be a part of the conversation because there's significant disadvantage for someone unilaterally moving first."Westpac is moving on advice."The changes that we're about to make to our remuneration model are significant," Wright told Hayne."Revenue will not be the hero item and, frankly, for most of my advisers, it never has been the hero item. But I do think the time is right to help me manage the perception of conflicts and, hence, why the significant change."From 1 October this year, Wright said Westpac "will no longer have a share of revenue scheme which is very common within the industry."We will no longer pay bonuses monthly. We will have a balance scorecard that is based off 80 per cent non-financials and 20 per cent financials, being the revenue component you were referring to before."Wright kept up the colour."There will be a bonus off a balanced scorecard, but it will be paid annually. "The - the way that we will be setting the salaries of advisers and their target bonus, I