Industry

The hits keep coming for the country’s primary stock exchange, which is now under investigation by the corporate regulator for its oversight of the doomed upgrade to its clearing system.

The converged advice and accounting group will go to shareholders with a proposal to change its name to ‘Count’, which it hopes will “better reflect the nature” of its operations.

The last thing an adviser wants is for their client to be sitting in front of another adviser in 12 months, explaining how their last adviser didn’t understand them. But what are advisers doing to prevent it?

The wealth management arm of Bell Direct believes the principles-based regulatory system proposed in the advice review will not only facilitate the dissemination of advice, but encourage development of digital models that will facilitate transactional advice.

After years of declining membership bases and growing frustration with disparate representation, 96.5 per cent of AFA members and 96.7 per cent of FPA members voted in favour of a merger between the two groups.

Superannuation tax breaks will cost the government nearly $53 billion this year, nearly matching the cost of the entire age pension program, according to a new analysis that says major reform is needed. Meanwhile, the government has signalled a tightening of super legislation.

Levy made no major deviations in her final suite of proposals, with Treasury left to mull on a blueprint for reform that should usher in a less prescriptive, two-tiered advice regime. But there are a few tweaks that might raise eyebrows.

The old guard of advice representation has implored the combined membership groups of the AFA and FPA to vote ‘yes’ in the upcoming merger vote.

“I don’t think anyone told me that things are going well,” said Michelle Levy of the advice review consultation process. Despite being given disparate views on how to fix things, the lawyer believes compromise was never an option.

In a letter released by the group Thursday it said “urgent action is needed”, and called the government’s impending response a “rare opportunity to deliver affordable and accessible advice to consumers”.

The green shoots that emerged for adviser numbers in the back half of 2022 were no fluke, with provisional advisers leading an industry resurgence after five years of decline.

Studies highlight just how much the benefit of financial advice is filtering into the public consciousness. After the pandemic, and with inflation soaring, the emotional upside of financial guidance is finally becoming clear.