focus on compliance Archives

Regulatory Reform: The Danger Of Knee-Jerk Reactions

by Tony Vidler Regulatory reform is everywhere (in the west at least) in financial services and the biggest distraction for advisers is what they need to do to adjust for it…again…and the focus is almost always entirely upon the short term. Knee-jerk reactions become the norm as advisers grapple with the burning questions, such as: […]

Compliance & social media use for financial advisers

How Advisers can remain compliant while using social media

by Tony Vidler The difficulty of using social media but remaining compliant as a financial adviser seems to be a concerrn cited as a reason to not use social media by those advisers. Various aspects of “compliance” are cited: the provision of best practice advice, privacy constraints, or legal responsibilities to a corporate stakeholder, […]

Handling Regulatory Uncertainty

by Tony Vidler The regulatory uncertainty level amongst advisers is just about at an all time high. It’s not just new rules that create the uncertainty; it is the shift to principes-based or outcome-focussed regulation that doesn’t have the definitive and prescribed series of “thou shalts” and “thou shalt nots” which creates the most uncertainty. […]

Best Practice Advice Means Meeting Client Expectations Too, doesn’t it?

by Tony Vidler What constitutes “Best Practice” advice process is a constant work in progress, but it does not develop as rapidly as either technology or client expectations do. In fact, there is a distinct probability that the gap between what professionals call best practice advice and what clients expectations of best practices are continue […]

How Much You Know Is Not That Important

by Tony Vidler Professional financial advisers know way too much to be used in any given client meeting or engagement. Yet too many think that how much you know is what matters. One of the great skills of the super successful professionals in fact is figuring out what stuff they know which is not […]

What is YOUR Risk Tolerance as an Adviser?

by Tony Vidler It seems to me that it is worth advisers asking themselves what their risk tolerance is as business owners given all the market and regulatory changes that have occurred in a reasonably short period of time. When contemplating what changes should be made in response to more regulatory reform or fundamental industry […]

Client Focus or Compliance Focus?

by Tony Vidler I support a compliance focus 100% ….but I support a client focus 100% too. All too often it is impossible to achieve 100% for both simultaneously though. Where does a professional compromise? Or does one not compromise? I think this picture captures the challenge of delivering compliant “best […]

The Financial Advice Profession: Are we there yet?

by Tony Vidler The incessant debate about whether financial advice can be called a profession or whether it is an “industry” keeps rolling along and mostly the debate is within the industry. Those who are not financial advisers don’t debate it because the answer is fairly clear to them I am guessing….after all; if it […]

5 Simple Steps To Audit Yourself

by Tony Vidler How can an adviser be confident their advice is good before trouble starts? In other words, how do you audit yourself? There are 5 key things that the adviser must do – and be able to evidence afterwards – to show that they have worked for the benefit of the client, […]

Compliant Advice: Paper Beats Scissors Every Time

by Tony Vidler When it comes to compliant advice Advisers really need to grasp that they are playing a game of “Rock, Paper, Scissors” with every client engagement now. There almost certainly will be an instance where a client throws the Rock…. We try to beat it with Paper. Complaints authority or regulator takes to […]

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