Regulation

The closing of submissions for the Quality of Advice review saw a flurry of detailed proposals released in recent weeks. While the key points remained the same across most of the associations, that being clarity on consent and disclosure, removing the safe-harbour provisions and greater tax deductibility, proposals from the other side of the fence…

Following the 2009 Parliamentary Joint Committee on Corporations and Financial Services Inquiry into Financial Products and Services in Australia, the FoFA reforms were developed. It identified conflicted remuneration as a leading cause of poor financial advice that was provided to clients. The resolution was to ban conflicted remuneration and to thereby remove the conflict between…

The Quality of Advice Review combined with the Australian Law Reform Commission’s detailed analysis of the ongoing appropriateness of the Corporations Act in regulating financial product advice are offering some hope for the under-pressure advice industry. As submissions were released this week, they were accompanied with commentary from several industry leaders about the massive burden…

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.   As part of the Hayne Royal Commission Response – Better Advice Act 2021, a…

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. The first, is of course, the Quality of Advice Review, which is occurring alongside a new Minister for Financial Services, in Stephen Jones, who has…

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 AFCA board approved the new funding model that will effectively charge financial advisory firms the same or a…

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. Commentary around the cost of advice highlights an important issue, yet given the level of importance and value that can come from a document…

The Liberal Party joined the ALP in focusing on housing affordability during their formal campaign launch this week. The announcement was headlined by two fairly major policy changes, one of which wasn’t automatically accepted by the ALP, as has been the case for both parties for some time. The first change, which has been flagged…

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. A wide-ranging review of the group highlighted issues occurring due to the actions of so-called ‘paid advocates’. These includes debt management and credit repair firms…

“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. Ardino was compelled to speak out on behalf of the financial advice…

The Financial Planning Association (FPA) has outlined its policy platform, or target areas for the next Federal Government. The industry body plays an important role in lobbying for change, highlighting that it does not wish to pre-empt the potential results of the Quality of Advice Review or the ALRC’s review of the Corporations Action, rather,…