Have we seen it all before?
The terms of reference for the Quality of Advice Review, to be led by lawyer Michelle Levy, made for interesting reading this month regarding what had been included and excluded following the draft terms.
On the table was principle-based regulation, simplifying documentation and streamlining regulatory compliance obligations. Off the table was professional standards for financial advisers and changes to the definitions of ‘retail client’, ‘wholesale client’ and sophisticated investors as well as the income and asset thresholds.
With this Review coming not long after the Hayne Royal Commission, it is easy to see how advisers may feel like they have seen it all before and for them to question whether they should bother to make a submission.
While associations are encouraging financial advisers to share their views and opinion, advisers themselves feel jaded and question whether their contribution will make a difference in the walls of Parliament House.
Comments to Money Management from advisers regarding the Review have included ‘too little, too late’, ‘putting the cart before the horse’ and ‘just gluing some bits back together’.
Years of reviews and consultations have already taken place, resulting in strict regulatory and educational consequence not to mention adviser fatigue, so how will this review be different and will its recommendations come in force quick enough to prevent a total exodus of the industry?
However, one cannot deny that the review’s aims and ambition should be lauded. After all, it is quite clear that the advice gap is only getting wider, advisers are leaving the industry in droves, the compliance burden is significant for advisers and advice is costing more and more and out of reach for the general population.
If this review is willing to explore these and can go some way to making improvements in the space then it will be a worthwhile endeavour.
AUTHOR
Laura Dew
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