Balance needed on product intervention
The chairman of the Parliamentary Joint Committee overseeing the Australian Securities and Investments Commissiom (ASIC), South Australian Senator David Fawcett believes lessons from other sectors such as aviation can help improve regulation of the financial planning industry.
Addressing the national conference of the SMSF Associaiton, Fawcett pointed to overseas experience with respect to product intervention and whether a proactive or reactive approach would be appropriate.
However he said he was not certain that ASIC, as currently resourced, could undertake the type of proactive e intervention that some people might expect of it. Rather, he suggested a balance being reached based on greater disclosure around the nature of products being brought to market.
Fawcett said he believed that while raising the educational standards of financial planners was important, it needed to be a part of a broader suite of measures covering the quality of products and the ethics of the companies operating in the industry.
Recommended for you
Advice firms are increasing their base salaries by as much as $50k to attract talent, particularly seeking advisers with a portable book of clients, but equity offerings remain off the table.
MLC Expand has appointed retirement specialist Andrew Long to work with advisers and licensees and drive growth for its recently launched retirement solution.
Despite banks largely having exited the industry, advisers under institutional licensees are least likely to switch while 26 advisers have been appointed to a licensee more than 10 times.
Insignia Financial has shared a progress update on the acquisition by US private equity firm CC Capital as well as the departure of a long-standing director.
