HELP pick up the pieces.

That's what Association of Financial Advisers president Mohamed Salim expects his fellow professionals to do when things go wrong.

Financial advisers have a duty to their client and cannot expect to run away from their liability, he said.

There are about 2,000 financial adviser representatives working for 30 financial advisory firms in Singapore, and they offer high net-worth clients a range of products, ranging from insurance to investment products, said Mr Salim.

When told of Janet's parents' predicament, he said: 'This should not be the case. No firm or advisory company should be selling such investment products without liability.

'The only person who can exclude them from liability is the client. How can companies who want to sell the products, give themselves full protection? It's ridiculous and so unfair to the client.'

A financial adviser representative of two years, who wanted to be known only as Mr Peh, said: 'The term 'financial adviser' has been abused in the industry. We are only representatives of the financial advisory firms we work for, but out of convenience, we call ourselves financial advisers.

'Some financial advisers I know of call themselves directors and managers, though they do not hold those positions. All they have to do is get their company's approval to put the designations on their name cards.'

Mr Peh said his company had sent him for intensive training in his first four months of work, so that he would learn how to assess his clients' financial positions and learn how to refer products to them.

But other financial advisory firms may not provide as much training. 'It really depends on the company's culture,' he said.

Mr Salim has been lobbying for stricter regulations to ensure that financial advisers do full fact-finding and offer advice to their clients, unless their clients specifically ask them not to.

Currently, many financial advisers are skipping this process, said Mr Salim.

He said: 'We may be in a first-world economy, but we may not be as transparent as we should be where it comes to giving financial advice.

'We should look beyond profits. Too many companies are looking from a profit standpoint, and are just trying to sell the product instead of achieving the investment objectives of their clients.'

The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) advises investors to deal only with financial advisers regulated by the MAS and engage one with proper qualifications and experience.

Investors must be careful of verbal promises and guarantees of high returns and never rely on verbal promises from the financial advisory firm or its representative.

Investors should also ask for documentation and keep all documents safely.

This article was first published in The New Paper on January 31, 2009.