Legislation

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…

The corporate regulator, ASIC, has continued its busy start to the year, releasing three legislative instruments this week stemming from the recommendations from the Hayne Royal Commission. The subject of these latest releases, which will guide ASIC’s assessment of financial service providers, relates to the ‘written consent’ required for advisers to deduct fees from client…

The financial services regulator ASIC has ramped-up its legislative activity in 2021, following a 2020 dominated by pandemic support and leniency. Commenting to media in recent weeks, ASIC’s deputy chair Karen Chester flagged recent proceedings lodged against industry funds Rest Super and Statewide Super as just the beginning. She flagged a “now-mature pipeline of non-Royal…

This week the nation’s financial advisers received news that their annual registration fees, or “adviser levies.” would increase by the equivalent of 160% over the next two years. According to the regulator’s announcement, the total cost per retail advice licence is now $1,500 plus an additional $2,426 per authorised representative under the licence. This means…

The Australian Financial Complaints Authority (AFCA) was established in 1 November 2018, combining the Financial Ombudsman Service, Credit and Investments Ombudsman (CIO) and Superannuation Complains Tribunal (SCT) into a more efficient and well resourced group. Covering most aspects of the financial services industry, the data was naturally tilted towards complaints against the banking sector and…

The Financial Sector Reform Bill (Hayne Royal Commission Response No. 2) Bill finally passed both houses of Parliament on Friday, as the professional standards expected of the financial advice industry continue to increase. The bill includes three significant changes for the industry, each aimed at protecting clients against the “fees for no service” debacle that…