Security: News
Full Disclosure Inc: will it help American investors keep tabs on their advisers? 03/08/2006
Author: Stuart Fieldhouse
Full Disclosure, a provider of collaborative financial services accountability on the Internet, has released a new service for investors called Fulldisclosureinc.com, which provides them with an Internet platform to collaboratively monitor the services provided by financial advisors and their firms.
Targeted primarily at private investors in the US, the platform could potentially help investors select the best, most ethical financial consultants working in their area.
Users complete an online questionnaire of 18 questions pertinent to the services provided by a financial advisor to the investor. In turn, other investors who share the same financial advisors are now informed on how their financial advisor is servicing his clients. The platform creates custom pages storing specified advisor and firm data for active monitoring. If an advisor conducts themselves in an unethical manner with one of their clients, the client then goes to their "My Advisors" page, changes the rating on the advisor and other investors who utilize that advisor are instantly notified via internal and external email.
Financial advisors who sell investors product without providing full disclosure and proper service will now be exposed. The result - solid accountability, which means unethical and poor advisors can no longer hide behind privacy policies, deep pockets, and quick settlements. For the investors, they not only get to actively monitor their current advisors, but highly rated advisors in their city, state, or country. If an investor decides their current advisor in not fulfilling their responsibilities, the investor simply searches for new advisors who have been highly rated by other investors in their area.
According to the founder and CEO of Full Disclosure, one of the major drawbacks with investor tools is the lack of ability to communicate with each other. "Fulldisclosureinc.com represents the first generation of investor tools to make this possible. Individual investors are the first to identify the lack of service or unethical behavior of a financial advisor or brokerage firm. Thus, they become the early warning system to alert other investors who utilize the services of that financial advisor or brokerage firm. Collectively, investors use Fulldisclosureinc.com to communicate, creating a firewall of protection by utilising each other. The fact is, investor confidence will always fluctuate with a cyclical economy, but Fulldisclosureinc.com will strengthen investor confidence involving advisors and firms. We want to change the statistic that over 85% of investors leave their advisor for lack of service. We encourage investors to take action if their current or past advisor has failed to provide them proper service or behaved unethically in their business with them…let others know! However, if they have a great advisor - reward them…let others know! If they are new to the world of financial advice, they need to do their research, use Fulldisclosureinc.com and the experiences of other investors to make sound decisions on their investments. Fulldisclosureinc.com can also be a tremendous ally for the ethical advisor who properly services their clients. We are not looking for fault; we are providing remedy."
Fulldisclosureinc.com's Collaborative Features
Full Disclosure's approach is as follows: Register - Rate - Submit - Research, based on a number of features and technologies including the following.
An easy to use interface: its clean and uncluttered design makes it easy to register for the service, to identify interesting content, and to add advisors and firms who can now collaboratively be monitored by all who utilize their services.
Content: all Fulldisclosureinc.com's content is explicitly contributed by those who have worked in the financial industry as financial advisors. Members of Fulldisclosureinc.com are exposed to content, information, and practices from the financial industry, which are not available to the public via bookshelf. The information alone, on how investors should purchase their bonds, could save them money upfront and put thousands of dollars back into their pockets during the life of the bond. The content provides investors a clear direction on avenues to take assuring the transaction is in their interest, and not just the advisor's. Investors are being educated beyond general book knowledge, which the vast majority complain is repetitive and gives conflicting information.
Rating and monitoring advisors and firms makes investing much less agonising and stressful. How soon would anyone want to know if their advisor chose to act unethically or decided not to service client's accounts properly?
The "My Advisors" page stores the member's ratings on advisors and firms, as well as top rated advisors in the member's area whom they wish to monitor. Members can immediately change the rating on their advisors or firms when necessary. Members can read ratings on their advisors, which are submitted by the advisor's other clients. Members can also communicate with each other through a double-blinded internal email system anonymously, using their alias created during registration. Members are directly linked to the advisors they monitor or rate.
Difficult to manipulate rating: Registration allows an investor to rate an advisor only once, with the option to change the rating at will. This eliminates advisors attempting to manipulate their ratings.
