Consumer mystery shops advisers again

Consumer chief executive Sue Chetwin says the purpose of the exercise was to see if the standard of financial advice had improved.

She says the answer was no and the results shocked the institute.

"This is an industry in serious need of reform," she says. Her view is the proposed regulation regime is too little too late.

Overall Consumer mystery shopped 33 financial advisers from large institutions with in-house advisers and agents, sharebrokers and nationwide adviser chains, to small standalone firms. An expert panel assessed the quality of advice and information in the 17 plans it received.