Legislation

Exposure draft legislation for the long-awaited Better Advice Bill was released this week, with advisers gaining greater certainty into the future of the industry. The legislation marks the end of the Financial Adviser Standards and Ethics Authority, or FASEA, with ASIC itself set to take over from 1 January 2022 when the law is expected…

If you’re thinking of hiring an ultra-cool “finfluencer” to help redirect social media traffic to your website or to spruik your products or better yet, to share advice… you’d better rethink your marketing strategy because ASIC is about to make a stand on financial influencers. The regulator is currently undertaking a review of finfluencer behaviour…

Some positive news was delivered to the financial advice industry this week with the ASIC Supervisory Levy to be reduced to 2018-19 levels. The announcement will see levies charged to advisers providing advice to retail clients restored to $1,142 for both the 2021 and 2022 financial years. The government went further, also announcing the flat…

The government feels it has adequately dealt with the issue of how financial advisers go about their business. Now it is focused on the advice itself, with retirement incomes the new battleground. Into the fray yesterday (August 23) the Actuaries Institute launched its new policy document, ‘Securing Adequate Retirement Incomes for an Ageing Australia’ Download…

It’s a wonder that financial advisers have much time to actually provide advice to their clients in 2021. Following a whirlwind of regulatory changes, education requirements, platform outages and increased reporting, more time than ever is being spent on compliance. The latest in the string of regulatory changes is the “Design and Distribution Obligations,” or…

Another week, another gut punch for the financial advice industry. With the exodus of financial advisers from the industry showing no signs of slowing, the flagging of further increased in the cost of doing business were no doubt an unwelcome surprise.  The fallout from the Royal Commission continues to hit the small and medium business…

The Federal Government’s sympathy for the under-pressure financial advice industry was exhibited once again this week, with Jane Hume, the Minister for Financial Services, delivering an unexpected extension of impending FASEA deadlines. Before the announcement, all registered financial advisers were being forced to sit a comprehensive ethics and general practice exam before 1 January 2022…

By now every adviser, licensee and paraplanner would be well aware of the impending changes to annual opt-in, consents and ‘lack of independence’ disclosures. Combine these with the impending product design and distribution obligations (DDOs) and varying fee consent requirements from every platform, and a busy year lies ahead for those advisers that remain. Late…

Global investment manager Parametric (part of the Morgan Stanley group of companies), which advise on over $378 billion in assets, this week highlighted key issues with the impending Your Future Your Super (YFYS) legislation. Among its views was the need for many funds, but particularly those with weaker recent performance, to “focus on the basics”…

As part of the government’s commitment to ensure Australian’s can access quality financial advice, a new disciplinary system for financial planners has been proposed that includes a raft of changes including many previous roles falling under Treasury and ASIC coverage.   The Financial Planning Association of Australia (FPA) has thrown its support for the Government’s…

April may well be remembered as the beginning of the next phase of financial advice in Australia. While the establishment of FASEA may have had far reaching implications, a triumvirate of news this week is set to shape the way advice is delivered and advisers are regulated for decades to come. Leading the headlines was…

Towards the end of last year, ASIC began preparations to request relevant documentation from major dealer groups around life insurance advice. This year is a vital year for the life insurance industry because it’s when ASIC will review the Life Insurance Framework (LIF). The Federal Government had organised to this review back in 2017/18, when…