News

Four AMP Group businesses deducted insurance premiums and advice fees from superannuation customers despite knowing they had died, a judge ruled, with two of the companies – AMP Life and AMP Financial Planning – hit with $24 million in penalties.

Back in 2019, then-FPA CEO Dante De Gori and Tangelo Advice Consulting’s Conrad Travers engaged the ATO to see if it would be open to updating guidance on the tax deductibility of upfront advice fees. By the middle of this year, we should see the outcome.

The federal government plans to use part of the $4.2 billion projected budget surplus to provide cost-of-living relief for Australian households and small businesses. It’s also moving forward with controversial plans to change tax concessions for the superannuation industry.

The company has expanded its managed fund and property research offering to include an ASX top 200 listed companies ratings service for the Australian financial advice community.

While FoFA was the right policy for its era, Ripoll says the industry has come a long way and has different needs. The Quality of Advice Review’s proposals are an “important step” for today’s industry, he believes.

Anne Graham and her fellow co-founders named their advice business Story Wealth because they believe every client has a compelling story to tell. Turns out Anne’s own story is quite the odyssey, as well.

AMP recently promoted senior economist Diana Mousina to a new role, deputy chief economist, in recognition of her achievements and succession path. Like other economists, Mousina sees a recession on the cards for Australia, although the timeline may be longer than many hope.

Sydney-based advice and technology group Sequoia Financial Group has forged a strategic partnership with ratings agency SQM Research in a high-profile vote of confidence for the provider.

The firm, which provides investment platform services on top of specialist investment support functions, is making ground on both the new guard and the incumbents by focusing on managed account enablement and product flexibility.

After posting a 16.6 per cent average annual return since 2014 and 31.8 per cent in FY20/21, the Cyan 3G Fund lost 35.8 per cent in FY21/22. So how does it feel, as a fund manager, when things head south in dramatic fashion? The fund’s co-founder, Dean Fergie, speaks to The Inside Network’s James Dunn.

If you’re going to offer services that the incumbents already do well, Steinhardt tells Inside Adviser, you need to do a pretty good job at it yourself. And if there are any flaws in your system, they need to be addressed.

The new association will be branded with its key purpose – providing a unified voice representing advisers – reflected in speech bubbles over the ‘A’s in its name.