FSRB hearings roll on

Further public hearings into the draft Financial Services Reform Bill (FSRB) have been scheduled for next month, following the initial round in late April.

Phillips Fox compliance solutions manager Marianne Robinson says the next set of public hearings, to be held in Sydney, have been scheduled for 13-14 June. The additional hearings will focus on the further submissions to come through after the 7 May deadline extension.

"About 12 submissions have been received by the Committee [Joint Parliamentary Committee Corporations and Securities] so far, and that number is expected to double."

"Most of the submissions were from major institutions or trade associations who have had working bodies looking at the draft bill," she says.

Robinson says the major issues still surfacing from the draft FSRB for the financial services industry are licensing and the definition of advice giving. A trans-tasman issue has also been raised she says, concerning the distribution of products for companies with New Zealand based offices.

"This is not a product driven legislation like before, it will be the services you provide that drives the bill. It is a move from the product focus to the functionality focus," Robinson says.

The Financial Planning Association (FPA) public policy officer Margaret Sousou says the association is working on its supplementary submission and in it will be requesting a time to meet with the committee at the next public hearing.

Robinson says the FSRB regulations, currently being drafted by Treasury and due before October, are another important step for FSRB progress.

"The big hole is the regulations, it is difficult without having seen these yet," she says.