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Advisers should treat Choice super performance as a “primary consideration,” the commissioner stated, while licensees should have “rigorous processes” for underperformance as part of their APL program.
Both illegal early access and SMSF suitability are known concerns of the regulator, but Sciacca noted that the driver of this review is ASIC’s desire to audit the efficacy of its earlier guidance on SMSF advice.Â
Bringing super funds and other institutions into the advice ecosystem should benefit consumers by creating an organic path for them to follow as their needs become more complex. More would benefit if the review also took into account the SMSF capabilities of accountants, stakeholders believe.
The collation of issues is an important marker for how many areas of advice legislation still need improvement for the industry to thrive, with fairness at the heart of all the proposals put forward by the association.
The concept of a ‘qualified adviser’ with less qualifications provoked an industry backlash. While the government has signalled it is open to discussion, the problem remains – how to open up advice to more consumers at a viable cost?
As advisers trickle back into the office after summer holidays, many will be confronted with the an urgent regulatory requirement that, if ignored, could see them unable to legally provide advice.
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.Â
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”.
“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.
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.