FPA members finally get opt-in relief
Members of the Financial Planning Association (FPA) who subscribe to its Professional Ongoing Fees Code have been granted relief from the opt-in requirements attaching to the Future of Financial Advice (FOFA) legislation.
The relief was confirmed by the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) today, with the regulator saying it had approved the FPA Code on the basis that it would achieve the same policy outcomes as those intended by opt-in — to protect disengaged clients from paying ongoing financial advice fees where they have received little or no advice.
The ASIC announcement said a crucial part of the FPA Code was that it met and maintained certain minimum code governance requirement, particularly around the FPA implementing processes to ensure that subscribers were actually complying with the Code, including the imposition of sanctions.
ASIC noted that it had the power to revoke its approval of a code where it was satisfied that the code no longer met the requirements.
Recommended for you
Having sold Madison to Infocus earlier this year, Clime has now set up a new financial advice licensee with eight advisers.
With licensees such as Insignia looking to AI for advice efficiencies, they are being urged to write clear AI policies as soon as possible to prevent a “Wild West” of providers being used by their practices.
Iress has revealed the number of clients per adviser that top advice firms serve, as well as how many client meetings they conduct each week.
Morningstar has made two business development appointments to drive the growth strategy of its financial advice software, AdviserLogic.
