Legislation

Following the 2009 Parliamentary Joint Committee on Corporations and Financial Services Inquiry into Financial Products and Services in Australia, the FoFA reforms were developed.

As submissions were released this week, they were accompanied with commentary from several industry leaders about the massive burden and challenges being place on advisers via overly prescriptive and punitive legislation.

As share markets fall, superannuation research houses are predicting a negative financial year for both balanced and growth superannuation funds.

The chair of the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority (APRA), Wayne Byres, spoke at the recent AFR Banking Summit on the current state of the Australian financial system, addressing the various geopolitical thematics, economic headwinds and ongoing tensions at play. He also touched on housing, climate action and digitisation. The Australian banking system has undergone reforms…

ASIC has just released an information sheet allowing it to issue warnings and reprimands to financial advisers that do the wrong thing. If you’re a financial adviser, you’ll definitely want to take note of the key messages from the document.  

After five years of compounding compliance and regulatory requirements combined with higher costs in every part of their business there are a number of potentially positive catalysts on the horizon.

Following on from last week’s article titled, ‘Ombudsman seeks to simplify complaint treatment,’ The Australian Financial Complaints Authority (AFCA) today confirmed it will put into place a ‘user-pays’ funding model that is fair, transparent and equitable.

The United Nations has described the managers of global real estate assets as ‘one of the most important decision-making groups on Earth’.

There is growing pressure on the long-awaited Quality of Advice review to deliver real change to an industry that has been saddled with layer after layer of regulation, compliance and paperwork.

The Liberal Party joined the ALP in focusing on housing affordability during their formal campaign launch this week.

The Australian Financial Complaints Authority, the external dispute resolution group of which all financial advisers must be members, this week announced significant changes to their assessment process of new complaints.

“We are at a critical crossroad, with an aging population, and the “Great Australian Wealth Transfer” at our doorstep” explained Lifespan Financial Planning CEO Eugene Ardino in an open letter to Scott Morrison and Anthony Albanese on the eve of the Federal Election.