This was the theme for this year’s National Financial Congress.

As mentioned in my previous post (see here), this event was one that left me moved and inspired..

In particular, one speaker spoke on a topic which I felt also sparked the spirit of unity among the attendees, although we were all from different companies.

The MAS FAIR act

For those who may not be aware of the FAIR act, it was something that was announced by MAS in Sept 2012. The idea was to revamp the way financial practitioners were compensated by changing from the current commission based structure to a fee-based structure.

This was a major change that would radically change the business for practitioners and may even lead to people leaving the industry because it is no longer viable to continue.

Why FAIR?

What triggered the FAIR act was the general public’s negative perception of this industry and of agents,  tainted by poor behavior like mis-representation, hard selling, poor post-sales service etc. Some have also criticised financial advisors for chasing commissions and product peddling without providing proper advice. With the publicity of negative case studies, it’s understandable why there is a certain level of mistrust and disappointment among the public

Personally, I have also come across people who complain about previous bad experience with advisors who didn’t do a proper job of planning and some who avoid “insurance agents” and “financial advisors” at all cost because of the negative perception of them as hard sell sales people.

The Other Side of the Coin

Yet for every unpleasant experience I hear about, there are also many others who tell me they are happy with the work that their advisor has done for them and they are satisfied with the quality of service.

And then there are cases where people were actually grateful that some advisor/agent had reached out to them in the past to purchase insurance coverage which came in handy when illness or disability struck.

I guess it’s just that the positive case studies are seldom publicised and exemplified while negative stories tend to be highlighted in media or through word of mouth.

This was a point that was brought out in the discussions with MAS over the FAIR act, along with market survey results of what consumers actually wanted. To cut the long story short, the speaker and his team finally convinced MAS to maintain the status quo in compensation structure while coming up with new initiatives to maintain service professionalism in the industry and control errant practitioners.

A Second Chance

The speaker spoke passionately about the 2nd chance we were given to rebuild the public’s trust in our industry and urged us to treasure this 2nd chance by upholding our professionalism.

His sharing struck a cord within me and showed me a bigger picture.

Serving with honesty, integrity and professionalism

As financial practitioners, we all have a role to play in raising the standards and restoring the public’s trust this industry, regardless of which company we represented.

As long as each of us focus on taking care of our clients’s best interest and conduct our business with honesty , integrity and professionalism, together we can transform this industry’s image and uplift people’s lives through our advice and solutions.

So to fellow advisors/planners/consultants/agents out there,  let’s all work together for a greater good,  focus on serving our clients to their best interest and raise the public image of this honorable industry!