Many advisers have raised concerns about bank staff pushing their own products with little advice.

Claire Matthews, of Massey University, said an element of that was being driven by concerns that banks were taking business from advisers.

She said bank branch staff were limited in what they could advise on but that was not necessarily a problem for consumers. “I’m not sure how many average consumers would expect bank staff members to tell them about anything other than their own products.”

Matthews said it could be worth considering a requirement that banks must include a statement saying that while they suggested a particular product, consumers should be aware there were others in the marketplace. “But consumers are unlikely to want to have to pay for advice. The whole point of having to go to an independent advice and get a broader range, they have to talk to someone else and that’s another step in the process which people may not want to take.  Having the bank do it all for you in one step is one of the advantages, part of why they choose the bank.”

Regan Thomas, of Wealth Design, said among the wider AFA world, truly non-aligned advisers were scarce. “In the eyes of a consumer is an adviser who is in a national network/group or part of a nationwide brand any different than a bank adviser? This is not a criticism of national groups, just something to think about.”

Brent Weenink, of BBY, said banks were traditionally not fiduciaries, so at an institutional and cultural level were not well-equipped to deal with fiduciary obligations such as avoiding conflicts of interest. “They accept these obligations when they start to give personalised financial advice, but the extent to which they embrace them institutionally is harder to gauge, particularly when the advice is being proffered by staff that are otherwise acting in a traditional banker capacity.”

He said the disclosures and advertising of the banks tended to focus on what they did, rather than what they did not do.  “It should for example be clear to a consumer not only that the bank is only offering bank product, but also that it is not offering advice on products offered by other parties; or on products such as real estate; shares; private equity; derivatives.”

We discuss the issue further in the next issue of ASSET.