AFA welcomes FSC white paper
The Association of Financial Advisers (AFA) has welcomed the Financial Services Council (FSC) white paper as an important contribution to the ongoing debate about the need to fix the financial advice regulatory regime.
The FSC released the ‘White Paper on Financial Advice’ earlier this week which outlined a blueprint for a simplified regulatory environment and a 37% reduction in the cost of advice.
AFA general manager, policy and professionalism, Phil Anderson, said the white paper included a number of recommendations that should help to reduce the cost and time involved in the production of financial advice.
“We particularly welcome the recommendation on the removal of the safe harbour steps, the change of a [statement of advice] to a letter of advice, and the recommendation that financial advice be tax deductible,” he said.
“We also welcome the KPMG report on the cost of financial advice, which highlights the current problem with financial advice being excessively expensive and the importance of finding solutions, including regulatory reforms to reduce this cost.
“This paper is an important input into Treasury's 2022 Quality of Advice Review, which is a big opportunity to get to the core of the issues and to find solutions to address the problems.”
Anderson said the white paper helped build momentum for change.
“We look forward to working with all stakeholders to achieve change to make sure that financial advice can remain accessible and affordable for everyday Australians,” he said.
The whitepaper had seen support from the Financial Planning Association of Australia and The Advisers Association, but Synchron raised some concerns.
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