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.
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