FPA makes Budget recommendations for advisers

The Financial Planning Association of Australia (FPA) has urged the Government to extend the freeze on the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) levy for one more year.

This would provide certainty for advisers of the costs for FY22/23 while Treasury reviewed the ASIC industry funding model.

The FPA also said it should be extended to all industry sector participants who had been affected by the levy increase.

FPA chief executive, Sarah Abood, said: “The current freeze has recognised the negative impact that ongoing significant ASIC industry fee increases have had on the financial services sector. We acknowledge and appreciate the Government’s role to date in trying to control these spiralling increases for this sector.

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“Many practitioners are sole traders or work in small and medium-sized practices, and their ability to absorb any additional regulatory costs is extremely limited. 

“To provide certainty to the profession and provide adequate notice of any change, which may require planning for business models to adapt, the review should be completed prior to the expiration of the ASIC levy freeze.”

Other recommendations made in the organisation’s Budget submission were for financial advice to have tax-deductible status and for the Australian Taxation Office and Centrelink to improve online access to ensure advisers could act on behalf of their clients.

It also called for the current Compensation Scheme of Last Resort (CSLR) bill should be broadened in scope to include the entirelity of the jurisdiction of the Australian Financial Complaints Authority (AFCA).

The bill in its current status was “too narrow in scope, provides inadequate coverage to consumers and doesn’t seek to address some of the underlying causes of unpaid determinations such as appropriate professional indemnity insurance”.