FASEA on notice over ASIC submissions
The Financial Adviser Standards and Ethics Authority (FASEA) is on formal notice to provide an answer on the content of submissions made by the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) and the reason those submissions were not made public.
The Parliament has formally indexed the questions on notice filed during Senate Estimates during which Queensland Liberal back-bencher, Amanda Stoker strongly quizzed FASEA chief executive, Stephen Glenfield.
Glenfield confirmed during the Senate Estimates hearing that ASIC had made submissions on all the standards put out by FASEA for consultation but said he could not recall what those submissions had suggested.
Stoker also asked why submissions made to FASEA as part of the consultation were not being made public – something which Glenfield also undertook to take on notice and check.
Asked whether ASIC had made submission as part of the FASEA consultations, Glenfield said that the regulator had “made submissions on all of our standards we put out for consolidation”.
Stoker’s questions have prompted speculation in the adviser community about the level of influence of ASIC with respect to the FASEA code of ethics, particularly the controversial Standard three.
ASIC announced yesterday that it would not be monitoring or enforcing individual advisers’ compliance with the code, declaring that it was specifically prevented from doing so under the Corporations Act.
The ASIC announcement is regarded as placing increased pressure on advice licensees to police the conduct of their advisers.
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