Independent financial advisers: Sydney and NSW

According to ASIC, which regulates all Australian financial advisers:

Many of the financial advisers listed below belong to the Profession of Independent Financial Advisers (PIFA) which requires all members to meet the following criteria:

• No ownership links or affiliations with product manufacturers. Impartiality is impossible where an adviser has links to a product manufacturer. Ownership links create an environment where the adviser resembles, at best, a well-intentioned salesperson.
• No commissions or incentive payments from product manufacturers. Commissions are payments made by product manufacturers to their distribution network. They create a conflict of interest between advisers and their clients.
• No asset-based fees. Asset fees, although authorised by the client, are calculated on the volume of business an adviser places with a product manufacturer. (On this basis, advisers who receive a percentage fee from an administration platform or wrap can’t describe themselves as independent.) Asset fees are incentives that prevent an adviser from being impartial and therefore create a conflict of interest between adviser and client.

The list below includes financial advisers who are not members of the PIFA but who have signed a declaration that they only charge fees for service, and do not receive any remuneration from:

• Commissions or trailing commissions
• Asset-based fees for service, including trailing income or fees based on a percentage of assets under management
• Bonuses (of whatever description)
• Conflicted remuneration as defined in the Corporations Act 2001 (Cth) pt 7.7A div 4
• Any other form of monetary or non-monetary remuneration that could reasonably give rise to a conflict between their interests and the interests of their clients.