Rebuilding trust in planners is paramount, says BT Financial Group chief executive Brad Cooper BT Financial's Brad Cooper says the advice sector must win back the trust of clients. Rebuilding consumer trust in Australia's tarnished financial planning industry is one of the most crucial objectives for the advice community right now, says BT Financial Group chief executive Brad Cooper. "People are worried about education standards ... people are worried about transparency," Mr Cooper said. It's really to ensure that everybody in the industry is focused on building and maintaining trust. Mr Cooper made the comments after companies such as Commonwealth Financial Planning and Macquarie Private Wealth were mired in scandals involving severe misconduct by financial advisers. A senate inquiry in June called for a royal commission to look into the cases, in which adviser clients lost hundreds of millions of dollars from dodgy advice and a fresh senate inquiry is set to potentially grill Commonwealth Bank of Australia chairman David Turner. "Really it's a matter of people doing the right thing," Mr Cooper said about raising the education bar for financial advisers and efforts of the advice sector to win back the trust of clients. I don't think everybody expects things to be perfect, but if things do go wrong that organisations step up and fix it. I think everybody has got zero tolerance to any form of failure out there, it's why the industry has stepped up. Last month, BT launched a public register of its financial advisers to inject further transparency into its business. The register outlines what clients can expect from their planners. BT has also tightened the education requirements of its planner employees, asking professionals to obtain qualifications such as certified financial planner and masters of financial planning standards. Mr Cooper made the comments after BT Financial Group posted a 16 per cent increase in cash earnings to $895 million for the year to September, thanks to improved returns and growing funds under management. The wealth management arm of Westpac Banking Corp posted a 14 per cent increase in revenue, and was singled out as one of the key contributors to the bank's $7.6 billion cash earnings for the year to September. BT recorded a 17 per cent rise in funds under management to $100.9 billion, and a 10 per cent increase in funds under administration to $114 billion. The wealth group attributed its improved earnings to higher performance fees, improved returns from private wealth and advice, and a 19 per cent boost in insurance cash earnings of $51 million. The wealth group's parent company posted an 8 per cent rise in cash earnings for the year to September. Investors will pocket a bigger final dividend this year - up 2¢ per share to 92¢, bringing the total dividend for the year to $1.82 per share.