The Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) is not ‘out to get’ the advice industry or restructure it, preferring to work with the industry to help improve standards, according to ASIC commissioner and current acting chair Berna Collier.
Speaking at an Investment and Financial Services Association (IFSA) function, Collier emphasised the regulator was not intending to change the ownership rules or structure of the advice industry.
Instead, ASIC sees its role as ensuring consumers’ interests are being treated as the most important factor by the planning industry.
However, Collier said this objective does not mean ASIC can completely ignore the structure of the industry.
“How the advice industry is structured can have an affect on the conduct that takes place within it. And that conduct is a matter for ASIC because we are the financial services regulator,” Collier said.
She said the phenomenal growth experienced by the wealth management industry and the introduction of super choice had given the advice industry, and the need for quality advice, even greater importance. To this end, AISC was focusing on making sure advisers comply with the law.
“This includes not only the rules about knowing your client and giving advice that is appropriate to the particular client, but also the new, explicit rules of having adequate arrangements for managing conflicts of interest,” Collier explained.
