The Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) has sent a message to superannuation fund trustees to properly discern the difference between general and personal advice, pointing to the recent Full Court decision impacting BT Funds Management.
ASIC commissioner, Danielle Press has used an address to the Conference of Major Superannuation Funds (CMSF) in Adelaide today to confirm that the regulator was currently examining a number of funds to ensure that they were adhering to the interpretation handed down by the full Federal Court.
Press said that ASIC recognised that the provision of financial advice represented a current challenge for superannuation funds but the regulator took the view that helping the member needed to be paramount.
However, she also signalled the degree to which the Federal Government had taken control of the advice issue, noting that a lot of the change which would occur would be legislative change, not regulatory change.
In doing so, Press urged superannuation funds to “lean into” the consultation processes around the Government’s review of financial advice.
