Peer-led solutions will drive the future of financial advice, according to Association of Financial Advisers (AFA) GM Member Services Nick Hakes.

“This is an association of advisers, and as you talk to them they are looking for ways to innovate,” he told an AFA roadshow in Melbourne last week. “Adaptive change is a response to the marketplace where financial advice is fighting for relevance.”

Mr Hakes says practices experience a relevance curve that sees advisers enjoy prominence when starting out.

But there is a turning point, where an adviser feels there is something not quite right and something needs to happen to drive their business.

He says the financial advice industry is at that turning point.

The shift in the advice marketplace is being driven by political, technology and social pressures.

“There is not one identifiable problem we are facing,” Mr Hakes said.

“It is challenging, and that is why we think there has to be adaptive change to ensure financial advice is successful in the future.”

He says this will arise from collective thinking and action.

“We need to look at what we can take from the past, and blend that into the future. That will come from our peer groups as we undertake a process of exploration.

“Members and practitioners have to lead the change if we are to change the way advisers are perceived.”

One area in which the AFA is working to enhance advisers’ image is pro-bono work.

“Other professions have pro-bono advice, but it is absent from the [financial] advice industry,” Mr Hakes said. “In Queensland, we have just conducted our first pro-bono case, and the aim is to roll out this service nationally.”