Austrac gives planners vote of confidence

Australia’s anti-money laundering agency, Austrac, has taken the step to officially recognise financial planners as legitimate ‘professionals’.

The official acknowledgement follows an extensive process of negotiation between Austrac and theFinancial Planning Association (FPA).

The recognition qualifies financial planners to act as “acceptable referees” on behalf of clients in dealings with Austrac. It also allows planners to verify a client’s identity when a client opens a new financial account.

The recognition puts financial planners on an equal footing with lawyers, engineers and accountants, who have already been officially recognised by Austrac.

FPA chief executive Ken Breakspear says the acknowledgement is a sign of confidence in the professionalism of financial planners.

However Breakspear says the real benefit with the Austrac recognition could be in the FPA’s ongoing efforts to restrict use of the term ‘financial planner’ to qualified professionals.

The FPA has been lobbying the Government, so far without success, to restrict use of the term ‘financial planner’.

"We believe only professionals who have a licence or are qualified representatives under the Financial Services Reform Act should be able to call themselves a financial planner,” Breakspear says.

Austrac has adopted just such a definition of ‘financial planner’ in its recognition of planners as ‘professionals’.

“Mum and dad investors are at risk from unscrupulous pretenders who operate outside the regulatory regime,” Breakspear says.

"Consumers are at risk until we can prevent such people from calling themselves something they are clearly not."