Legislation

To say the last few years have been testing for advisers would be a gross understatement. The reverberations of the Hayne Royal Commission, which highlighted important issues, though mainly those faced by vertically integrated institutions, has led to a big increase in compliance costs and regulatory hurdles. The result in many cases has been the…

It was a busy day for the Federal Government, announcing the proposal to disband FASEA, introduce lack of independence disclosure requirements and then finally, introduce a new fee disclosure regime. Advisers had been hit with an increasingly complicated set of rules when it came to receiving fee payments from ongoing clients. A combination of grandfathering,…

2021 may be shaping up as the ‘Year of the Financial Adviser’. After what has been a tumultuous and stressful few years for the industry, promises of a more streamlined regulatory framework may finally be coming to fruition. Assistant Minster for Superannuation and Financial Services, Jane Hume, and Treasurer Josh Frydenberg had a business day…

Whether it’s due to the long delay on Parliamentary sittings or the realisation that financial advisers had become regulatory gymnasts, it seems the tide is starting to turn on financial advice. The establishment of the Tax Practitioners Board (TPB) and requirements for any financial advisers who provided ‘tax’ advice to be registered was no doubt…

The reshaping of the Australian financial advisery industry continued on Friday, with the Australian Securities and Investment Commission (ASIC) releasing details on its new approach to “insurance claims and handling businesses.” The legislation resulted from a recommendation during the Royal Commission and seeks to increase the professionalism and transparency for all parties involved in advising…

It’s been a busy few years for the financial advice industry and its regulators, including the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC). Yet if the past week is anything to go by, things are only likely to be get busier in 2021. November has seen a series of announcements, submissions and potentially wide-ranging changes to…

There were no recommendations in the Retirement Income Review final report, and nor did there need to be. In the highly charged political environment around super, there was sufficient evidence for the Government to do what it wants. Michael Callaghan, the chair, and his two panelists, Carolyn Kay and Deborah Ralston, deliver more than 600…

It’s been a while since “value investing” made sense: the style has suffered a dreadful stretch of performance since the 2008 financial crisis. The ‘Warren Buffett’ mantra of buying low (cheap) and selling high has seen value-oriented managers underperform the market year after year. But that’s not to say value investing is dead, it’s just…

Australia has slipped from third place in the world rankings for adequacy, sustainability and integrity of our super system to fourth place, being leap-frogged by new entrant Israel. The impact of COVID-19 has cost almost all systems, particularly those which allowed access to savings or relaxed contributions rules. The Mercer CFA Institute 12th annual global…

If you are looking for one word to describe 2020, ‘volatility’ would seem to fit the bill. Every aspect of our lives, whether it be financially, socially, or work, has been like a roller-coaster ride. Into lockdown, out of lockdown. Often isolated from family or close friends. And then coping with investment markets that have…

Hamish Douglass, the CIO of Magellan Financial Group, who oversees the largest Australian-owned global funds manager and is the current darling of both the wholesale and retail investor sectors, is relatively sanguine about the possible market impact of the US election, but a bit more worried about COVID-19. Douglass, also Magellan’s co-founder, with Chris Mackay,…

2020 marks the fifth anniversary of the establishment of the United Nations’ special development goals, or SDGs. The UN created 17 SDGs to address the global challenges society and corporates face, such as those related to poverty, inequality, climate change, environmental degradation, peace and justice. The SDGs were designed as a blueprint to achieve a…