ASIC moves to extend general advice relief
The Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) has acted to renew the class order relief it has provided with respect to general advice.
Amid continuing industry discussion, including in the Financial System Inquiry, about the relabelling of general advice, ASIC has moved to extend the class orders with little or no amendment to their existing provisions.
The regulator has started to move on the issue because the existing legislative instruments are about to expire.
Explaining its rationale, ASIC said it had originally provided the relief "because the full recital of the general advice warning may not be appropriate in all circumstances when giving general advice".
In doing so, it acknowledged suggestions that "retail clients do not understand or do not listen to the full general advice warning when it is given orally and concerns that "giving the full general advice warning orally increases the time required to deal with oral inquiries and so increases costs for general advice providers".
It said the relief was beneficial to advice providers and retail clients because it allowed general advice providers to give a shorter, simpler general advice warning when they provide oral general advice.
"The modification is intended to make the warning more easily understood by retail clients and to reduce the regulatory burden on general advice providers and their representatives," the ASIC documentation said. "Advice providers may also use their own words to convey the simpler warning."
Recommended for you
The new financial year has got off to a strong start in adviser gains, helped by new entrants, after heavy losses sustained in June.
Michael McCorry, chief investment officer at BlackRock Australia, has detailed how investors are reconsidering their 60/40 portfolios as macro uncertainty highlight the benefits of liquid alternatives.
Having reset its market focus to high-net-worth advisers, Praemium’s administration solution has been selected by Bell Potter in a deal that increases the platform's funds under administration by $6 billion.
High transition rates from financial advisers have helped Netwealth’s funds under administration rise by $3.7 billion in the fourth quarter of FY25.
