SOA relief for planners imminent
Relief from burdensome Statement of Advice (SOA) requirements for planners who provide direct equity advice could be imminent, with the Financial Planning Association (FPA) confident of a resolution after holding further talks with the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC).
The prospect of an exemption appeared lost last month after an FPA submission to the regulator seeking class order relief for planners to put them on par with stockbrokers was rejected, but the latest talks have left the association hopeful of a positive outcome.
Stockbrokers are regulated by the Australian Stock Exchange under different legislation and have a conditional exemption from the need to provide an SOA when providing further market related share advice in time critical situations.
FPA policy manager Joan Simpson and board member Corrina Dieters have been in discussions with ASIC on the matter.
“We know that ASIC is talking to Treasury about the prospect of looking at the legislation to see if it can be made more amenable for financial planners,” Simpson told Money Management.
Simpson said the FPA, which this week unveiled a ‘how to’ guide on SOAs in response to concerns about complexity from members, was confident the regulator was taking their petition seriously, but as yet had not indicated the details of how the issue would be resolved.
“We haven’t yet heard the nitty gritty details of whether Statements of Additional Advice will be able to refer to previous SOAAs, so advisers won’t have to write an SOA every time, you’ll be able to refer to previous ones,” Simpson said.
Recommended for you
ASIC has launched court proceedings against the responsible entity of three managed investment schemes with around 600 retail investors.
There is a gap in the market for Australian advisers to help individuals with succession planning as the country has been noted by Capital Group for being overly “hands off” around inheritances.
ASIC has cancelled the AFSL of an advice firm associated with Shield and First Guardian collapses, and permanently banned its responsible manager.
Having peaked at more than 40 per cent growth since the first M&A bid, Insignia Financial shares have returned to earth six months later as the company awaits a final decision from CC Capital.
