[Weekly Wrap] How much training do you need?

One of the stories that sparked the most discussion this week was about the skill level of financial advisers.

Friday, December 13th 2013, 3:25PM

by Susan Edmunds

In a submission on the rewrite of the Code of Professional Conduct for Authorised Financial Advisers, Mike Naylor, of Massey University, made some comments about the post-regulation financial advice sector that some adisers have taken issue with.

He made many suggestions on what should be done to the code - almost all of which were not acted on by the Code Committee. But among his suggestions, he said that regulation had led to a loss of skills among financial advisers.

He wrote: "Prior to the Code the better financial advisers were aiming to obtain a level seven qualification, via a graduate diploma and CFP/ CLU. The need to obtain level five before getting AFA discourages new entrants from continuing on to the Level seven qualification.”

That prompted a flurry of comments, many from advisers who said that passing university papers didn't make people any better at dispensing financial advice.

Whether the minimum standards for AFAs need to be increased is something that seems to come up in conversation time and again. But Code Committee chairman David Ireland said it was not something that was being considered in the immediate future. There is a qualifications framework review due very soon.

In other news, financial advice-turned-software development firm Triplejump has been given a $1.1 million grant from Callaghan Innovation, which it will use to develop its cloud software, which helps peopel dealing in human capital risk for small businesses. This is another example of how technology is changing the adviser space and how people do business efficiently.

On the mortgage front, it's all been about the Reserve Bank this week. It has decided it will not restrict high-LVR lending to people who are building homes from scratch, has kept the OCR on hold - for now, and warned that no one should be getting too complacent about low interest rates.

On the people news page, we have new appointments and some job listings to check out if you're looking for a change for 2014.

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