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This is the advice of MyMoney Australia Sales and Marketing Director Graham Burnard, in response to the recommendations contained in the Ripoll Report, published this week.

“While the Ripoll Report indicates a desire for commissions to disappear, it has essentially recommended that the financial services industry be left to work out when and how commissions will go,” Burnard said.

“What that means is that commissions on financial products will certainly be around for some time yet, but that doesn’t mean clients and financial planners need to be at loggerheads over the issue,” he said.

MyMoney Australia (www.mymoney.com.au) provides the ideal solution for clients who might be uncomfortable about the commissions paid to their financial planners, and for financial planners looking for an alternative remuneration model to strengthen their client
relationships.

“MyMoney’s commission rebating service can be used by clients and financial planning firms alike, to put the client in control of the payment process,” Burnard said.

MyMoney’s system is simple and cost-effective, and above all is completely transparent for both client and financial planner.

“Commissions distort the financial planning advice process because the planner is paid by the product manufacture and not the client”, said Burnard.

“We looked at the problem and said that if the commission is paid directly to clients, they can then determine whether payment is made to the planner and how much it should be, then there is no distortion in the process.”

Burnard said that a key part of MyMoney’s offering is that it fast-tracks a solution for clients and financial planners without having to wait for what is certain to be years before an industry-wide model is adopted.

Using the MyMoney system, clients can have commissions paid directly to their nominated bank account via MyMoney, or in conjunction with their financial planner who can use the MyMoney Fee Engine to put the revenue from commissions directly in the control of the
client, therefore removing any perception of bias.

“Once the client has complete say over the payments, any lingering concern about commission bias is removed. It is then the client alone who agrees a fee with the planner and directs the payment.

“The financial product manufacturer thus has no say in it, which goes to the heart of the Ripoll Report’s findings,” Burnard said.

He added that many financial planning practices offset commission revenue against fees.

“While this may appear to be an adequate solution it falls short of what is being called for in the planning industry,” Burnard said. “The simple question is, ‘what happens to the commission payments if the client decides they don’t want service moving forward?’

“If the client cannot recover the benefit of these commissions either by lower product fees or redirecting the payment to their own account then they are locked in. Instead of a fee-forservice offer, the planner is actually providing a ‘fee-for- no-service’ offer, not what they or the clients are wanting,” Burnard said.

MyMoney is also ideal for clients who do not currently receive advice from a financial planner. They can recover these commissions and put the money into the everyday account to use how they choose. It could be a family treat each month or it could pay for financial
planning advice, the bottom line is that it is the client’s choice.

Because MyMoney is an online system, it can provide detailed reporting for clients to track and analyse their commission payments, allow 24/7 access to account balances, and with the monthly payment process, it ensures clients are able to access their money almost as soon as the commission payments are made.

For further information, please contact:

Graham Burnard
Sales & Marketing Director
MyMoney Australia
P: 02 8226 1515
M: 0409 314 492
E: graham.burnard@mymoney.com.au

Paris Kritikos
Sales & Marketing Director
MyMoney Australia
P: 02 8226 1515
M: 0419 278 753
E: paris.kritikos@mymoney.com.au

Simon Lloyd
Access Public Relations
P: 0424 470 923
E: simon@accesspr.com.a

About MyMoney Australia

MyMoney Australia Pty Ltd provides investors with access to commissions that are paid by financial product providers to financial advisers. The company is an authorised representative of Global Mutual Funds Pty Ltd, a privately-owned Australian Financial Services Licence holder. The principals of MyMoney have more than 40 years of combined experience in commission management services and information technology. The MyMoney service has been designed as an efficient, cost-effective and simple web-based facility from which investors can receive the commissions payable on financial products that are generally paid to financial advisers. Rebated commissions obtained by MyMoney are credited directly into clients’ nominated bank accounts on a monthly basis. MyMoney does not offer financial advice to clients.