Industry Super Australia (ISA) has reiterated its calls for advisers to move with haste to a fee-for-service model, with all commission-based fees banned, including on life insurance.
It also argued the welfare of the consumers relies on greater regulatory funding.
In a submission to the Senate Economic Committee’s inquiry into the Scrutiny of Financial Advice, ISA said advisers should operate on the same fee model as doctors, with stressing fixed fees would remove advisers’ “reliance on incentives or commissions” and “provide consumers with greater transparency in relation to fees and the value of the advice”.
It also stressed the banning of all forms of conflicted remuneration is key to advisers’ professionalism, as is a raised educational benchmark, comprising of a relevant tertiary degree and further specialist training.
Beyond advice changes, ISA said increased regulatory powers were necessary to ensure fairness and adequate consumer protection.
It said the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) should be given more funding to police the licensing system in relation to compensation and develop codes of conduct.
