Industry cautious on new model SOAs

The corporate regulator remains enthusiastic about creating additional model Statements of Advice (SOAs), despite only a “mutedly positive” response to the initiative from industry groups.

Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) deputy chair Jeremy Cooper said there did not seem to be the same “fire in peoples belly” for the new model SOAs as there was for the first example, which was delivered last August.

“Nonetheless, it’s a worthwhile project and we will get it done,” he said.

Last October, Money Management exclusively reported ASIC’s plan to create four new model SOAs, covering a risk advice scenario, basic share portfolio, comprehensive financial plan, and super switch.

Last week, Cooper said he wanted at least one of the new documents to be in an email format.

“I’d like to show that [SOAs] can be sent as an email to ram the message home that they don’t have to be formal, complex legal documents.”

He said industry groups would be asked to assist in creating scenarios specific to their expertise, although ASIC would construct the model documents itself.

But industry groups are circumspect about ASIC’s plans.

Financial Planning Association (FPA) government and policy manager John Anning said the FPA’s policy committee was “not opposed in principle” to the development of further model SOAs, but wanted clarity about what the exercise would achieve.

“It was useful when ASIC did the first model SOA because that provided a concrete example of ASIC’s thinking on how the SOA requirements should be met. But there’s a lot of truth to the argument that a SOA is a SOA regardless of what it’s dealing with,” he said.

Securities and Derivatives Industry Association (SDIA) policy executive Doug Clark said the SDIA was already working with ASIC but was hesitant about creating further documentation.