Regulation

Exposure draft legislation for the long-awaited Better Advice Bill was released this week, with advisers gaining greater certainty into the future of the industry. The legislation marks the end of the Financial Adviser Standards and Ethics Authority, or FASEA, with ASIC itself set to take over from 1 January 2022 when the law is expected…

If you’re thinking of hiring an ultra-cool “finfluencer” to help redirect social media traffic to your website or to spruik your products or better yet, to share advice… you’d better rethink your marketing strategy because ASIC is about to make a stand on financial influencers. The regulator is currently undertaking a review of finfluencer behaviour…

Some positive news was delivered to the financial advice industry this week with the ASIC Supervisory Levy to be reduced to 2018-19 levels. The announcement will see levies charged to advisers providing advice to retail clients restored to $1,142 for both the 2021 and 2022 financial years. The government went further, also announcing the flat…

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…

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 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…

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…

The recently announced Your Future, Your Super proposed performance test has raised concerns on the potential of unintended consequences in the government’s pursuit of better performing funds. Clearly, the government is squarely focused on the relationship of fees and performance against a standard asset allocation framework. However, many pundits believe the current proposal would see…

The beginning of 2020 has been dominated by headlines of mass adviser departures from the industry, with the number of registered advisers having fallen to levels of five years ago. While this may make for great headlines, it says little about the progress being made in the professionalisation of the financial advice industry, particularly in…