If changes to the Financial Adviser Standards and Ethics Authority (FASEA) code of ethics Standard 3 are to happen it will not happen until next year, according to BT Financial Group.
BT’s head of financial literacy and advocacy, Bryan Ashenden, said some confusion had been created after it had been reported that there was a possibility of FASEA making amendments to the problematic conflict of interest standard.
“I don’t think we’ll see a change imminently on Standard 3 as FASEA have only said they would consult on the issue and pass the findings onto Treasury. That means any changes will not take effect until at least January 2022 and that is only if Treasury makes amendments,” he said.
“That means that if there are some advisers still struggling with Standard 3, that struggle will still continue. It’s important for advisers in that situation to make sure they can get the support they need such as education on the code. There are options for them.”
Ashenden noted that as the FASEA code was only 18 months old, if changes were made the question was would that create more confusion or provide the clarity some of the industry was looking for.
Comments
The loudest voices in financial advice regulation and commentary are all quite strident about what the current Standard 3 wording actually means. However they all think it means something different. That tells you it has never really been clear at any stage. It would actually be impossible to make it more confusing than it already is. Change is urgently needed right now.
BT is one of the least adviser friendly product providers. On panorama they make life impossible for advisers through a lack of forms, stupid unfriendly processes and idiotic disclaimers which tell clients our fees (not theirs) will cause client detriment. Their life insurance division has jacked up premiums to extortionate levels, they discount the first year's premiums to game the system and cut adviser commissions, and they deceived advisers by keeping secret their plans to wrongly turn off commissions on pre-2013 policies by claiming they were group, when they were in fact fully underwritten retail policies (less than 5 weeks notice leading up to Christmas preventing advisers from being able to negotiate an alternative fee for service arrangement). So maybe they should get their own house in order before commenting on the FASEA code which applies to advisers, not them.
Same here George, All underwritten on personal years ago, suddenly there's 100k pa missing. Explanation: They're still working on it. I don't think BT (Westpac) and ethics should be in the same article. They suddenly decide the cover is group without warning but wait.....cut commission and keep the premiums up for a few months. Not a bad windfall.
100% agree BT / Asgard are a disaster for Advisers to work with.
6 times registering clients to transfer from BT Wrap to Panorama and BT send clients an email saying we have done nothing to make the move happen and we are no longer listed as Advisers.
The theft of Life Comms as others note.
And Asgard’s total disaster on FDS Optin starting 1 January 2021 pushing pre legislation, 6 weeks notice, zero idea what they were doing, zero understanding of the complexity, multiple forms per account. Complete wrong information and very costly to Advisers.
Anyone would think BT want All Advisers gone as they believe the platform will be worth more to sell with more Orphan clients.
BT / Asgard and Ethics, what a sad joke that is.
FARSEAcal BT / Asgard and disgusting.
Our AFSL has banned using their products.
Once a platform announces itself for sale, or is sold, the transition is so poor, the service is nil, but if you have clients with unrealised CGT you can't simply up stumps and move the money. Platforms are as much a trap as a useful service but limited alternatives.
Perhaps for masterfunds, but not for wraps. Decent wraps allow in specie transfer to another platform without realising CGT.
yes true, but only if the investment menus align - some funds can't be transferred.
Are we seriously still talking about this? FASEA put something together so we could work in the spirit of the concept, not go into large dealer group legalese on the topic. Hey, read the Corporations Act. It's full of holes and contradictions, nor is SIS, Tax Act etc any better. I don't agree with how FASEA held a gun to our heads but I can understand what they were trying to achieve. In the meantime we see annual opt in, ongoing vs fixed term agreements starting in a weeks' time, insurance going through the roof I believe more so because of young people having to opt into their insurance in super rather than LIF, people losing valuable cover in old super accounts because they forgot to opt in, and last but not least the arguably criminal behaviour of previous large licensees turning on advisers demanding 10 year's worth of client files. No mention of privacy law breaches or even of their authority to do so. sorry about the morning rant but I say again: there are bigger issues than Standard 3.
Agree. The whole advice industry is slowly but surely imploding. RIP advice as we once knew it.
I wont be taking any advice on ethics standards from the likes of BT or other carpetbagger like product manufacturers who continue to make the life of advisers a living hell.
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