The financial advice industry is bogged down by reviews and inquiries that ignore what is best for consumers, AMP CEO Craig Meller says.

“We seem to be stuck in a seemingly endless round of discussions and review about what our public policy should be in super, retirement incomes and financial advice,” he told a Committee for Economic Development of Australia event in Sydney last week.

“Sadly, those discussions seem to be missing what’s important: how we deliver the best outcomes for Australians.

“We’ve had the Cooper review, the Ripoll inquiry, the Future of Financial Advice reforms, Stronger Super, the rewriting of our rules for prudential regulation in Australia, and the Senate committee inquiry into the Australian Securities and Investments Commission.

“And we are in the midst of the Financial System Inquiry, a parliamentary joint committee inquiry into financial advice and another Senate inquiry into financial advice.”

Mr Meller says the cost of implementing regulations generated by these inquiries runs into hundreds of millions of dollars.

And the sum rises as new rules are introduced before previous ones have bedded in.

“They need time to be implemented, and time for their effectiveness to be assessed,” he said.

“We are strong supporters of this Government’s approach to letting these changes bed down before embarking on any further disruption to the financial services sector.”

Mr Meller says increased regulation has not brought greater demand for financial advice.

“Very few people I speak to understand the true nature of financial advice and where its real value lies. Too many usually self-interested parties like to dumb down the definition of financial advice to just product selection.

“This is usually a ruse to justify a particular entrenched position – and is a million miles from where the true value of advice lies.”

Mr Meller says products are becoming commoditised, so selection is the least important aspect of quality advice.

“And that is why AMP is so committed to a vertically integrated model,” he said. “Quite simply, we invest more in financial advice than any other business.

“We bring in more advisers to the industry than any other business, we train our advisers to higher standards and then we stand behind the advice we provide.

“We believe there’s no greater level of consumer protection than that.”