FOFA 'early adopter' out on a limb
While the 'hard' implementation date for the Future of Financial Advice (FOFA) regulation is 1 July 2013, one financial planner has been voluntarily complying with the reforms since 31 July last year.
Michael Rees-Evans set up a wealth consulting business within the accountancy practice Lockwood & Ward in the middle of last year.
He made the move to Lockwood & Ward after four years at The Trust Company as general manager of private clients.
"I decided I would like to go back to advice, but would like to set up as an ASIC [Australian Securities and Investments Commission] version of an independent adviser," said Rees-Evans.
"It's a cleanskin practice. So I don't have a lot of the issues other people have [with FOFA] because I don't have legacy clients," he added.
Rees-Evans received his Australian Financial Services Licence (AFSL) in July 2012, and decided to list himself on the ASIC register of 'early adopters' of the FOFA regulation.
"I basically thought I've got a clean slate - I might as well start the way I mean to continue and the way the regulator wants me to continue. So I set my business up to be FOFA compliant from the beginning."
The decision has already returned dividends for Rees-Evans.
"I saw a new client a few weeks ago who actually had searched the ASIC register and noticed that I was the only financial planner who was an early adopter - that attracted him to me," he said.
There are only three other ASFL holders on the ASIC register, none of whom are financial planners: Global Mutual Funds Pty Ltd, QWL Pty Ltd and Traders4Traders Pty Ltd.
Rees-Evans admitted that his "compliance chap" was a little surprised that he agreed to comply with FOFA when much of the regulatory guidance had yet to be released.
"I guess I was generous looking at the form rather than the substance ... I found it very difficult to believe that the law would require me to do things differently than I have been, because I always put the clients' best interest at the core of what I do," said Rees-Evans.
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