Compliance costs as much as 15 per cent – IFSA

Richard Gilbert

Compliance costs within the Australian financial services industry are running as high as 10 per cent to 15 per cent of total operating costs, according to the chief executive of the Investment and Financial Services Association (IFSA), Richard Gilbert.

Gilbert has used the chief executive’s overview within the IFSA annual report to comment on progress made in lobbying the Government for much-needed changes to the financial services regulatory environment.

Gilbert paid tribute to the efforts of the Parliamentary Secretary to the Treasurer, Chris Pearce, in addressing the industry’s concerns and said he felt confident that the resulting legislation would “enable improved access to financial advice, enhance investor participation, reduce compliance costs and improve business efficiency”.

“Some of our member companies report compliance costs with legislation and regulations governing the financial services industry to be as high as 10 per cent to 15 per cent of total operating costs,” he said.

Gilbert also used the annual report to welcome the recent regulatory changes allowing certain information to be subject to incorporation by reference within financial service documentation, arguing that this cleared the way for the industry to shorten the length of Statements of Advice and Product Disclosure Statements.