ASIC grants three advice relief measures
The Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) has announced three temporary relief measures to help consumers receive affordable and timely financial advice during the COVID-19 pandemic.
ASIC said the three relief measures were:
- Relief to facilitate advice about early access to superannuation;
- Relief to extend the timeframe for providing time-critical statements of advice (SOAs); and
- Relief to enable a record of advice (ROA) to be given in certain circumstances.
Under the advice for early access to super, ASIC said it had:
- Allowed advice providers not to give a SOA to clients when providing advice about early access to superannuation;
- Permitted registered tax agents to give advice to existing clients about early access to superannuation without needing to hold an Australian financial services (AFS) licence; and
- Issued a temporary no-action position for superannuation trustees to expand the scope of personal advice that may be provided by, or on behalf of, the superannuation trustee as ‘intra-fund advice’. (Intra-fund advice is provided free of charge to the recipient of the advice.)
ASIC noted its relief and no-action position were temporary and subject to the important conditions, including:
- Clients must be provided with a ROA which meets certain content requirements. An ROA is a shorter, simpler document that sets out the advice that is being provided;
- The advice fee, if any, is capped at $300;
- The advice provider must establish that the client is entitled to the early release of their superannuation; and
- The client must have approached the advice provider for the advice.
On SOAs, ASIC said to assist advisers meet demand for time-critical advice, it would allow providers up to 30 business days (instead of five) to give an SOA after time-critical advice was provided.
The ROA relief would allow the provision of an ROA to existing clients even though:
- The clients’ personal circumstances have changed as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic; and
- The client sees an adviser from the same AFS licensee or practice, not their original adviser.
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