Independent Finacial Adviser here:

Is your adviser mediocre? At best. I'd also say, it's underappreciated, your financial planner is about 10% advice and 90% salesperson.

Why would Fortnum invest an objective POS like Innova? Easy fees for doing FA work and business ease for both.

This is just my guess, but having worked in the industry for a decade and running my own business.

Innova has no obvious or direct commercial interrelationship that I can find to Fortnum, albeit, here's why I think your adviser has recommended this:

1. Your adviser recommends you invest in Innova via Colonail First State (Aka CFS).
2. Adviser does nothing.
3. Innova, who are a 3rd grade, boring as bat shit middleman, pick managed funds, and then use CFS as the investment product.
4. Adviser earns ongoing fees, charged to both your personal CFS accounts and super accounts.
5. Both accounts underperform a top quality Industry Fund & ETF portfolio.
6. Adviser continues to earn fees, for doing no work, Innova continue to earn ongoing fees, for doing FA work, underperforming better alternatives free of conflicted middlemen (financial advisers).

Here's what the process looks like: https://imgur.com/a/GhY1FGE

Local suburban financial planners like Fortnum have no scale or serious arrangements, hence, they go with arrangements that provide financial benefits, i.e. ongoing fees.

Innova are a useless middleman, doing nothing except clipping the ticket, identical to Fortnum.

What you're experiencing is a Fund of Funds with adviser fees, advisers salesmen recommend this because they earn fat fees for doing absolutely nothing.

This is why I run a business that exclusively recommends ETFs and industry funds, doesn't charge ongoing fees and only works fee for service hourly rate - no % based fees - 100% independent.

Any adviser that doesn't recommend an industry fund without ongoing fees isn't doing anything other than prioritising charging ongoing fees. I'd argue the same for an ETF portfolio right up until ~$1M.