Govt points to delay for opt-in start date

The Minister for Financial Services and Superannuation, Chris Bowen, has indicated there will be a delay in the introduction of the annual client ‘opt-in’ requirement for adviser services.

Bowen said there would be a “delay of a few years” before this requirement would be introduced, despite the 1 July 2012 start date for the majority of the Rudd Government’s reforms to the advice industry.

“My comments on the day of the Government’s announcement on the Future of Financial Advice reforms made it clear that the Government’s position from the beginning was that there would be a delay of a few years before the annual renewal notice provision of the ‘adviser charging’ model would first apply,” Bowen said.

Bowen pointed to a comment he made in an interview with Sydney radio station 2GB on 26 April, the day the reforms were announced, to support his position.

“So we will institute a system [referring to adviser charging], so maybe after a few years, you have the option to renew that annually, to ensure that you are getting the value for money that you want,” Bowen told 2GB.

However, in the official documents released on day of the announcements, Bowen pointed to “three key reforms, which will apply from 1 July 2012”. They included a ban on conflicted remuneration structures, the introduction of a statutory fiduciary duty for advisers, and the introduction of the new adviser-charging regime which included the requirement for clients to annually renew (by opting in) to an adviser’s services.

Bowen’s reopening of the discussion about the opt-in requirement appears to have been sparked by what he described as inaccurate comments being made by the Shadow Minister for Financial Services and Superannuation, Luke Hartsuyker, on the topic.