Nine out of ten clients get bad advice

While a survey conducted by a consumer organisation in Germany may at first appear to be of little relevance on a wider global scale it offers a useful insight into problems faced by clients of banks, investment advisers and insurance companies. They are usually at an information disadvantage compared to their adviser/salesperson and we suspect that a survey conducted on a more international basis would produce similar results. Getting advice that is not influenced by any monetary incentive such as commissions, transaction fees etc is more important as products continuously become more complex and more difficult to analyse for the laymen - including businesspeople who may be used to dealing with sophisticated financial product in their 'day job' running often quite substantial businesses.