APIR, the group responsible for providing codes for managed funds, has scored a major coup with the announcement that the Association of Financial Advisers has signed up for its Compliance Reference Service (CRS).
The AFA made the decision at its recent conference to sign up with the CRS system which provides advisers with an identification, authentication and compliance service which can used to track documentation and check for compliance accreditation.
AFA national president Joe Nowak says the association decided to adopt the system as part of its commitment to its adviser members and that it would provide the best compliance support in the coming years.
“We are keen to support the new regulatory regime through an initiative that adds a layer of professionalism and consumer protection to the industry. It is also consistent with the consumer focus of the Government and Opposition as the system will co-ordinate compliance at all levels and build consumer confidence in the industry,” Nowak says.
According to Nowak the AFA will adopt the system as soon as possible as part of it taking an upfront role in protecting clients and hopes to have the system in place before the electronic aspects of the Privacy Act come into effect in December.
APIR managing director Andy Hutchings says the cost for the system per adviser will be around $550 in the first year to set up the smart card system and to register planners on the CRS database, dropping to $350 per annum to continue using the service. However he says the AFA and its members have regarded the cost as professional standards issue and since they have decided to sign up en masse APIR would strike a deal to offer the services at a lower level.
“We are looking at an introductory type deal as these will be the first advisers in the industry to use the system and they will be doing some testing on our behalf,” Hutching says.
The AFA will soon have company in using the system with Lynx and Lonsdale planners also involved in the testing stages of the system.
The deal comes in the same week that APIR also announced it would provide Superannuation Product Identification Number (SPIN) codes for 4,500 superannuation funds under the SuperEC project. The contract was awarded by the Super EC Council which has been developing a uniform standard of communication between super funds and managed funds for super products, with a view to eliminating paper and reducing delays between transactions between funds.
