Regulation

Private markets are worth around $14 trillion globally, ASIC believes. It’s not sure, and that uncertainty hints at the wider problem – private markets, and their effect on public ones, is still largely a mystery.

It came as a relief instrument rather than the expected guidance note, but ASIC’s move still managed to give advisers the surety they need to legally use the FSG exemption.

It doesn’t matter whether funds mislead investors with intent or not, and it doesn’t matter if other parties were partly to blame. The authorities have had enough of the excuses, and they’re lobbing record fines at transgressors.

The ATO has dug its heels in, and is firm in its belief that upfront advice should remain classed as capital expenditure. But the FAAA did gain a significant concession around tax (financial) advice provision.

It’s odd that of the 12 published submissions to APRA’s consultation on hybrids, not one advocated getting rid of them altogether. Is the regulator trying to protect banks and retail investors from themselves, or is it simply “jumping at shadows”?

The Bill comes after a report from the Council of Financial Regulators warned that the financial system’s reliance on financial market infrastructure had “significantly increased” following the 2008 global financial crisis and subsequent reforms.

The government now has two internal reports recommending an overhaul of the industry funding model. Yet they appear destined to sit on the shelf “gathering dust”, with the financial services minister of the opinion that recruiting more advisers will fix the problem.

The freeze order isn’t UGC’s first engagement with the regulator. It was among the first to be pinged for not meeting the Design and Distribution Obligations back in 2022.

It’s a welcome stopper on the amount advisers will have to fork out, but has no connection to the core issue. The government still fails to recognise the inherent flaws in its CSLR scheme, and the industry is running out of patience.

ASIC made no secret of its assertion that Lanterne operated purely as a “licensee for hire”, which is an ominous reminder for licensees operating with thin risk and compliance standards that the regulator is watching.

Transfer Balance Caps, Super Balance Thresholds and the rules overseeing the notice of intent to claim a tax deduction are all overly complex and could do with immediate simplification, according to SMSF Association CEO Peter Burgess.

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”.