AFA calls out ISA on transparency
The Association of Financial Advisers (AFA) has accused Industry Super Australia (ISA) of hypocrisy for not making its Future of Financial Advice (FOFA) submission publicly available, despite its loud calls for transparency.
AFA CEO Brad Fox said the organisation "selectively" leaked documents condemning FOFA changes, but the formal submission to the Government could not be found at the time of writing.
But a spokesman for ISA said that was a "matter for Treasury".
"We have made a comprehensive submission to Government and we expect Treasury will release that as they see fit," he said.
However, Fox said the lack of clarity in the form of a formal, publicly-available submission was "inconsistent" with calls for transparency.
"What I don't understand is why, when transparency is so important to the reform of financial services, Industry Super Australia (ISA), which is the modern representation of the union super fund movement and the loudest critic of the amendments, has not made its submission to the Government on the FOFA amendments publicly available," he said.
"We think it is reasonable to expect full transparency on these types of issues or consumers could question whether they can trust the integrity of the agenda.
"We have seen gross inaccuracies being reported as facts across a wide range of publications and media programs, so the question has to be asked: how are these actions, which undermine the confidence of baby boomers in personal financial advice, in the best interests of Australia?"
The AFA CEO defended proposed changes to FOFA as a measure to increase the affordability and availability of financial advice.
"As a nation, we need more Australians better prepared for retirement, not less," he said.
"These amendments do not take away the key consumer wins around transparency and in reality it means the law has caught up with the transition advisers had been making over the last 10 years to move to charging for their advice by separate advice fees rather than in-built commissions."
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