Legislation

While technology’s role in compliance is becoming more prominent, advisers and brokers are still looking for clarity on what vehicles will carry that technology.

Cowell Clarke lawyer Richard Hopkin said there are reasonable grounds for licensees to certify clients as wholesale, but the practice invites a much higher degree of risk than the traditional route of gaining an accountants’ certificate. 

The government will now follow through on Levy’s proposal to bring licensed financial institutions back into the advice fold, while also agreeing to “modernise” the Safe Harbour Steps and swap SOAs with “advice records”.

Advisers should take a proactive approach to compliance, which can enhance the reputation of their firm and reduce the risk of regulatory enforcement action according to Mintegrity.

“I was really worried people would say ‘Is that all?'” the minister said, before explaining that he didn’t want to submit key compliance reforms until they were well-designed and collectively agreed upon.

Diligence and frugality can lead to wonderful retirement outcomes, writes Alteris Financial Group senior adviser Jaxon King. But if the journey to retirement is bleak, it could sap the joy out of reaching the destination.

Higher mandatory contributions and increased pension assets helped Australia improve on its 2022 score in Mercer annual index, and move up a spot in the 47-country ranking. Yet the research cited room for improvement.

Concerned by collapses of crypto platforms both here and abroad, the government has put forward a plan to bring digital asset platforms into the Australian Financial Services Licensing system.

After publishing two separate guides and with the Financial Accountability Regime firmly in mind, the regulator was scathing of licensees’ collective remediation processes when it released findings of a recent industry review.

Australians are retiring much later and with more in their retirement coffers than ever before, according to the ABS, with a confluence of factors behind the trend.

The idea that superannuation tax concessions are costing the government more than the Age Pension is based on bad analysis, according to Mercer, which found that concessions will actually save taxpayers in the long run.

An approved degree doesn’t necessarily make for a better adviser, but if the government wants to get the experienced pathway legislation right it must disclose which pathway an adviser took to accreditation.