Information flow changes course

Fresh off the back of the alienation of personal services income legislation and the Financial Services Reform Bill (FSRB), the financial services industry has another legislative lion to contend with.

The Federal Government will pass the Privacy Amendment (Private Sector) Act 2000 in December this year, curtailing the use of certain types of information.

The implications for planners and their client relationships will be far reaching according to AXA Australia technical services manager Peter Brady. He says AXA has already established a working group looking into the issues of the Act.

"We are looking closely at the impacts in order to safeguard the interests of clients and advisers," he says.

The extension of the Privacy Act 1998 aims to establish a single scheme for the collection, holding, use, correction and transfer of personal information by organisations through the use of National Privacy Principles (NPPs).

Organisations may also choose to devise and enforce their own codes of conduct, subject to approval by the National Privacy Commissioner.

Brady says several areas affecting the planner/client relationship have been identified, including distribution and the collection and storage of information. The question for distribution, he says, is whether dealers will need consent to deal with personal information received by the authorised representatives.