Licensees at risk under proposed code changes

18 March 2019
| By Mike |
image
image image
expand image

The Federal Government has sent a clear message to the financial services industry that it wants to tighten up on codes of conduct, including imposing them if industry sectors do not move quickly enough, and making code breaches tantamount to breaches of the law.

The Government’s tougher approach has been outlined by the Treasurer, Josh Frydenberg at the same time as releasing an industry consultation paper around industry codes of conduct which openly asks, “when should the Government prescribe a mandatory financial services industry code?”

Frydenberg said the consultation process was part of the Government’s direct response to the recommendations of the Royal Commission into Misconduct in the Banking, Superannuation and Financial Services Industry.

The consultation paper also canvasses giving the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) similar enforcement powers to those held by the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC).

The discussion paper points out that Commissioner Kenneth Hayne noted that a breach of an enforceable code provision should constitute a breach of the law and that similar provision existed within the Competition and Consumer Act and carried civil penalties.

Dealing with enforcement and remedies, it said that because a breach of the code provisions would  be a ‘breach of the law’, “it also follows that it may be a breach of a licensing condition, where there is a general licensing obligation to comply with applicable laws, which can be enforced by the appropriate regulator”

“Because this is a breach of the law, it may also be open to ASIC to take a range of other enforcement action for a breach,” it said.

AUTHOR

Recommended for you

sub-bgsidebar subscription

Never miss the latest news and developments in wealth management industry

MARKET INSIGHTS

So we are now underwriting criminal scams?...

5 months ago

Glad to see the back of you Steve. You made financial more expensive, not more affordable as you claim, and presided ...

5 months ago

Completely agree Peter. The definition of 'significant change is circumstances relevant to the scope of the advice' is s...

7 months 1 week ago

The FSCP has issued a written direction to an adviser who charged clients “extraordinary fees” for inappropriate and conflicted advice, as well as encouraged them to swit...

1 week 5 days ago

ASIC has cancelled the AFSL of an advice firm associated with Shield and First Guardian collapses, and permanently banned its responsible manager. ...

3 weeks 1 day ago

ASIC has confirmed the industry funding levy for the 2024–25 financial year, and how much licensees can expect to pay....

2 days 21 hours ago

TOP PERFORMING FUNDS

ACS FIXED INT - AUSTRALIA/GLOBAL BOND
Fund name
3y(%)pa
2
DomaCom DFS Mortgage
95.46 3 y p.a(%)
5