A survey on opinions about financial advisors has found they are regarded as one of the least trustworthy professions in New Zealand.
The survey of about 2400 people was conducted by Horizon Research on behalf of the Financial Advisors' Association and the results were presented at the association's conference earlier this month.
General manager David Yates says the industry is not very popular at the moment.
The experience of the global financial crisis and in particular finance company failures had tainted people's opinion of the industry quite dramatically.
Mr Yates said the term 'ratbag' was used regularly in the survey, but it tended to be around people's experiences of finance companies three or four years ago.
He said the survey found close to 80% of the population knows little or nothing about how the industry is regulated.
Mr Yates said the association plans to run such surveys on a regular basis so it can track any changes in attitudes towards advisors.
