The report of the Parliamentary Committee reviewing the Government’s amendments to the Future of Financial Advice legislation contains few surprises and will at least provide an element of certainty, according to the Association of Financial Advisers chief executive, Brad Fox.
Commenting on the report recommendations, Fox said he was not surprised to note that Government members of the committee had supported the Government’s intended amendments while the Federal Opposition and the Greens had largely maintained their opposition to a number of the changes.
However he noted that there seemed to be general unanimity within the industry around the treatment of product advice.
Fox said that so far as the AFA was concerned, it did not want to see tier one product advice to be paid for under the general advice exemption.
The Financial Planning Association (FPA) welcomed the recommendation clarifying that there is no intention to reintroduce product commissions under the General Advice exemption.
FPA chief executive Mark Rantall said the Federal Government could now enact laws that the opportunity protected the people “and banish forever the threat of commission-driven sales on their investments and superannuation”.
Rantall said the association anticipated that The Minister for Finance and Acting Assistant Treasurer, Senator Mathias Cormann would “execute a Bill in the true best interest of consumers, remove red tape and costly duplication and provide certainty to our profession and the wider financial services industry”.
Cormann has said the committee’s report will influence the final shape of the Government’s amendments and consequent regulation, but he has signalled he does not intend to be deflected from implementing the core changes promised by the Government in the lead-up to last year’s election.
