IF HONG KONG'S financial planning industry wants to know what the future holds it need only look to Australia. That's because there is widespread acknowledgement that measures taken Down Under to regulate the sector, increase disclosure and enhance professionalism have not only been effective but also serve as a viable working model for other areas where financial planning services are still evolving.
While much attention in Hong Kong is focused on how to simplify and improve the overall regulatory framework, a number of organisations with extensive Australian experience are already preparing for significant changes to the structure of financial planning companies and the way individual advisers operate.
What is foreseen is a move away from the current model, which is largely dominated by the banks and insurance companies. In some cases, these institutions employ hundreds of financial planners whose main source of income is obtained by promoting specific products to clients.
The likely alternative is the steady development of independent financial advisers (IFAs).
Advisers who take this route are professionally qualified and have the scope to build and maintain their own businesses, putting clients' long-term interests before other considerations.
Phil Neilson, managing director of ING Financial Planning, has introduced an IFA business model in Hong Kong and can see it going from strength to strength. It is based on the company providing entrepreneurial people with training, products, back-office support and marketing advice.