Consumers see financial advisers as fairer than their banking and credit card counterparts, according to a Financial Services Institute of Australasia (Finsia) survey.

Respondents gave advisers a perception-of-fairness index score of 78.92, compared with banks on 71.16 and credit card providers on 62.27.

Advisers also came top on procedural fairness – 79.31 compared with 71.06 for banks and 61.99 for credit cards – as well as interaction and distribution fairness.

Finsia CEO Russell Thomas says the results show advisers can develop long-term relationships with customers, giving them an advantage over other financial services providers.

However, consumers raised concerns about all providers.

“Distribution fairness is how the ‘pie is shared’ between the customer and their financial services provider and is the cause for most concern among consumers,” Mr Thomas said.

“They don’t believe they are getting their fair share across the three types of financial services providers: banks, financial advisers and credit card providers.

“Overall, financial advisers did well compared with their bank and credit card counterparts.”  

Mr Thomas says this is not surprising, given their opportunities to build relationships.

“Interestingly, banks suffered significant decreases in perceptions of fairness as customer relationship lengthened,” he said. 

“Customers did not perceive that long relationships with their banks led to improved treatment.” 

The research was undertaken by Monash University, in conjunction with Nottingham University and Financial Services Research Forum in the UK.

About 750 customers were surveyed in Australia, building on a UK research model.