National summit urged to resolve planning issues
The Federal Government should convene a national summit of the financial services industry to discuss and address the more than 60 issues raised in the Senate Committee report into the performance of the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) and its handling of the Commonwealth Financial Planning Enforceable Undertaking.
That is the assessment of the Financial Planning Association (FPA), with its chief executive, Mark Rantall, confirming to Money Management that the organisation had suggested to the Government that such a national summit was needed to ensure that the mistakes of the past were not repeated.
"The Future of Financial Advice (FOFA) changes are not of themselves going to stop these things from happening, we need to encourage the delivery of appropriate, ethical and independent advice," he said.
"What we need is a swift, industry-wide response to make sure these things do not happen again," Rantall said.
The FPA chief executive's comments came as planners within groups owned by the Commonwealth Bank continued to express their concern at comments by the FPA chairman, Matthew Rowe, that of those FPA members who had been sanctioned by ASIC, almost half had been part of the Commonwealth Bank.
The comments also come as the industry awaits the detail of the license conditions to be imposed by ASIC on the Commonwealth Bank's financial planning businesses — Commonwealth Financial Planning and Financial Wisdom.
In the meantime, media attention has been turned to Macquarie Private Wealth which was also the subject of attention in the Senate Committee's final report.
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