FOFA lobbying intensifies
With the Future of Financial Advice (FOFA) bills believed likely to return for further debate in the House of Representatives in the next fortnight, the key independents are viewed as unlikely to deliver on more than a few of the amendments viewed as crucial by Australia's major financial planning groups.
The key groups, including the Association of Financial Advisers and the Financial Planning Association, intensified their lobbying following the realisation they would be gaining few concessions from the Government following the tabling of the report of the Parliamentary Joint Committee (PJC) reviewing the FOFA bills.
The PJC ended up producing two separate reports - a Government report, and a dissenting report produced by the Opposition members of the committee.
A few days later, the chairman of the PJC, Bernie Ripoll, was appointed Parliamentary Secretary to the Treasurer in the Gillard Government's latest Cabinet reshuffle.
A number of financial planning industry executives involved in discussions with the Government and in lobbying individual members of Parliament said they had been surprised by the manner in which Labor members of the PJC had effectively deepened their support for the Government's position.
They said the tenor of the Government members' PJC report had been more hard-line than had been indicated in discussions last year.
This means that much will depend on the success or failure of the Federal Opposition in moving approximately 16 amendments outlined in the dissenting PJC report last week.
At the core of those amendments are opt-in and the prospective nature of annual fee disclosure statements.
In the meantime, the financial planning industry is still awaiting announcements from the Minister for Financial Services, Bill Shorten, on both an appropriate transition period for the FOFA changes, and the regime to replace the accountants' exemption.
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