All financial advice is scaled to some extent, and "there isn’t some form of separation between holistic and scaled", according to Australian Securities and Investments Commission senior executive leader Ged Fitzpatrick .
"There’s always been a view from ASIC that advice is scalable. What we’ve been trying to do is to clarify the guidance to ensure people have the confidence to make that point in terms of their business model," Fitzpatrick said, speaking at the Association of Superannuation Funds of Australia Compliance Summit in Sydney.
He also confirmed that financial advisers who provide limited advice will be subject to the same obligations as those who provide comprehensive advice.
"All the personal advice rules will apply to scaled advice, including the best interests duty. So the best interests applies, regardless of scale. And ASIC thinks it’s possible to provide less complex advice that is consistent with the best interests duty," he said.
ASIC plans to release a consultation paper before July 2012 that will build on CP164 and provide further examples of scaled advice, Fitzpatrick said. Following a period of consultation, ASIC aims to release an updated regulatory guide on scaled advice by September this year, he added.
A consultation paper and regulatory guide on the best interests duty will follow a similar timeline, Fitzpatrick said.
Intra-fund advice "will look quite different" in the near future, with ASIC planning to follow through on its plan to remove the class order relief for superannuation funds "so there are not two intra-fund regimes running at the same time", he said.
