Advice sector to suffer more regulation: Access Economics

Advisers should expect to see more regulation imposed on the sector in future because of the financial crisis and also because of collapses such as Storm Financial, according to Access Economics' director Chris Richardson.

Speaking at the Securitor Conference in Darwin last week, Richardson said it was not clear what form any additional regulations would take.

The changes were not necessarily going to be notable improvements on the regulations already in place, he said, although he emphasised this was not to say existing regulations could not be notably improved. This was because “politics will dictate that things have to be seen to be done” (by the Federal Government) to tighten regulation in the sector, he said.

The regulations would be imposed both directly and indirectly on the sector, although planners themselves will not be a particular focus of the changes, he said.

“You will see regulations in the banking sector which will have an indirect impact on advisers and you will probably see it on the planners themselves.

“The politicians will want to be seen to do something and therefore we have gone into a phase where the pressure is on to improve regulation specific to the sector and in general across the economy.”

“There is work by the Business Council looking at the cost of regulation to Australia, but the political direction is dragging us the other way.”