Consumers urged to give feedback on financial advisers amid new assessment rules

CONSUMERS in Singapore have been encouraged to provide feedback on financial advisers as part of a new assessment requirement for them.

The Association of Banks in Singapore, Life Insurance Association of Singapore and Association of Financial Advisers Singapore on Thursday "jointly urged consumers to be forthcoming in giving feedback on their financial adviser representatives".

Banks, life insurance companies and licensed financial adviser firms are implementing a new requirement under the Balanced Scorecard framework (BSC) this year. This is aimed at ensuring that the pay of financial advisers is also tied to performance indicators not related to sales alone.

"The variable income of these representatives and supervisors will be affected if they fail to provide suitable product recommendations or do not make proper disclosure of material information to clients," the three associations said in a statement.

"As such, in reviewing the performance of their representatives and supervisors under the BSC framework, banks, life insurance companies and licensed financial adviser firms are expected to contact their clients to obtain feedback about the latter's experiences on their recent purchases of investment or insurance products."

The BSC framework was proposed under the Financial Advisory Industry Review, or FAIR.