The survey says: financial advice in the UAE

Financial advice is big business all over the world and is a growing industry in the UAE as residents look to make the most of their money.

Financial advice is big business all over the world and is a growing industry in the UAE as residents look to make the most of their money. But can you trust advice from professionals who are essentially not regulated?

We asked 2,610 TaskSpotting users for their opinions on financial advice. TaskSpotting describes itself as the region’s only advocate marketing platform and pitches our questions to its app community who typically engage with brands to create content and share feedback.

A vast majority of users felt they were in need of an expert’s advice to help plan their investments and saving strategy. Yet only a small majority said that they trusted the advice they had received in the past.

Perhaps the most compelling number in this week’s survey was the 82 per cent who felt that financial advisers needed more regulation to contain the apparently common practice of mis-selling.

Regulators have been increasingly proactive in chasing down rogue traders preying on ill-informed customers, but rules can only go so far.

The best defence against bad advice is to read the small print before signing on the dotted line and, most of all, to question the person selling the service.