FPA moves on soft dollar
TheFinancial Planning Association(FPA) has embarked on a disclosure campaign with a specific focus on soft dollar as part of its effort to improve professional standards.
The move involves the FPA forming a working party with theInvestment and Financial Services Association(IFSA) to develop a widespread industry position on soft dollar benefits.
FPA acting chief executive June Smith says the campaign aimed to develop standards for dealing with conflicts of interest in payment structures and create a standard for fee disclosure.
Smith says the FPA’s overall position was to discourage the use of soft dollar incentives, but also stated there had to be recognition of payments that created conflicts of interest and those based on performance not aligned to products or product providers.
In a related move the FPA has appointed Professor Ian Ramsay to research the disclosure of fees and charges.
Ramsay has been asked to look at the issues of whether payment structures should align the interests of the consumers with the adviser as well as how the market should determine payments.
He will also cover the standardisation of disclosure documents, investigating the issue of soft dollar to create a consistent industry view and looking at relationships between products and platform providers.
Ramsay will report back to the FPA in December with member feedback to follow in January and February of next year with an industry roundtable to discuss the outcomes in March.
The actions are part of the FPA’s Professional Partner program which is made up of five separate campaigns.
AUTHOR
Jason Spits
Recommended for you
Net cash flow on AMP’s platforms saw a substantial jump in the last quarter to $740 million, while its new digital advice offering boosted flows to superannuation and investment.
Insignia Financial has provided an update on the status of its private equity bidders as an initial six-week due diligence period comes to an end.
A judge has detailed how individuals lent as much as $1.1 million each to former financial adviser Anthony Del Vecchio, only learning when they contacted his employer that nothing had ever been invested.
Having rejected the possibility of an IPO, Mason Stevens’ CEO details why the wealth platform went down the PE route and how it intends to accelerate its growth ambitions in financial advice.
