ASIC’s plan to ban high risk advisers
The Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) has confirmed it is continuing its surveillance of advisers it regards as being high risk with a view to banning those with serious compliance concerns.
The regulator’s intentions have been outlined in its Business Plan covering 2017 in which it has confirmed its agenda with respect to the financial planning sector.
However one of its most serious references is that made to “Surveillance of advisers identified as having a high risk of non-compliance”.
“In 2017–18, we will establish a program to ban advisers with serious compliance concerns and to monitor licensees' remediation programs,” the ASIC Business Plan said.
In the life/risk area, the ASIC Business Plan also referenced how it intended using the new data it was collecting from the major insurers, referring to “Advisers with a higher likelihood of providing non-compliant advice, as identified through life insurers' exception reports”.
The Business Plan also confirmed the continuation of ASIC’s current surveillance and shadow shopping exercise aimed at advice around self managed superannuation funds (SMSFs), referring to “Testing the quality of SMSF advice by reviewing advisers' legal compliance with their best interest duty in providing advice to consumers who set-up an SMSF”.
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