Sinodinos outlines Govt FOFA objectives
The Federal Government has sent a further signal to the financial planning community on how quickly it intends to move on legislative and administrative changes around Future of Financial Advice (FOFA).
At the same time, the Assistant Treasurer, Senator Arthur Sinodinos said that there would be a moratorium on any significant regulatory or legislative change impacting the financial services industry during the course of the Financial Systems Review promised by the Federal Treasurer, Joe Hockey.
The minister also flagged a further examination of the major financial services regulators, saying the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC), the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority (APRA), the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) and the Australian Taxation Office (ATO) would be the subject of an audit performance by the Productivity Commission.
Addressing the Association of Independently Owned Financial Professionals conference in Hobart, Sinodinos reinforced that one of the Abbott Government’s priorities would be the removal of “opt-in”.
And, in similar vein to the minister’s message to the recent Association of Financial Advisers (AFA) conference, he acknowledged that fee disclosure had been taken too far.
The Assistant Treasurer signaled that the Government would be moving on time-sensitive changes to the FOFA regime via regulation. A package will be taken to Cabinet before the end of the year with a view to implementation by the winter session of the Parliament.
Amongst other things, the minister also signaled a greater need for government agencies to consider the costs and imposts of regulation.
AUTHOR
Mike Taylor
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