ACCC to target wealth management sector in 2013

wealth-management/ACCC/FOFA/financial-services-sector/commonwealth-bank/financial-advice/future-of-financial-advice/chairman/

5 December 2012
| By Staff |
image
image
expand image

The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) is set to shift its focus towards the wealth management industry in 2013, according to Minter Ellison partner Katrina Groshinski.

The industry watchdog has spent the last few years targeting consumer issues in the banking industry, said Groshinski.

But in comments made on Monday, ACCC chairman Rod Sims indicated that the commission's enforcement priorities for 2013 are going to involve pushing hard against anti-competitive conduct - and he specifically mentioned the financial services sector, said Groshinski.

"The ACCC is pretty good about publicly communicating where their focus is. So when Rod Sims says 'we're looking at the financial sector', that's where they'll be looking," she said.

Groshinski pointed to the Future of Financial Advice (FOFA) legislation, due to come into force on 1 July 2013, and the consolidation this is likely to drive in the wealth management space, as a factor in the ACCC's thinking.

The last time the ACCC looked at the wealth management sector closely involved the Commonwealth Bank's acquisition of Count Financial, which was cleared to go ahead by the commission, she said.

"But where [the ACCC] has raised some potential issues is when you have a large organisation buying a network of dealers - where there is potential for that organisation to direct business upstream. I think they will take a more active interest in those sorts of acquisitions next year," Groshinski said.

Read more about:

AUTHOR

Recommended for you

sub-bgsidebar subscription

Never miss the latest news and developments in wealth management industry

MARKET INSIGHTS

So we are now underwriting criminal scams?...

2 months ago

Glad to see the back of you Steve. You made financial more expensive, not more affordable as you claim, and presided ...

2 months ago

Completely agree Peter. The definition of 'significant change is circumstances relevant to the scope of the advice' is s...

4 months 1 week ago

A Sydney financial adviser has been permanently banned from providing any financial services, with the regulator deriding his “lack of integrity, trustworthiness and prof...

3 weeks 1 day ago

Minister for Financial Services, Stephen Jones, has provided further information about the second tranche of the Delivering Better Financial Outcomes (DBFO) reforms....

2 weeks ago

One licensee has lost 27 advisers in the past week, now sitting at zero, according to the latest Wealth Data figures....

3 weeks 1 day ago

TOP PERFORMING FUNDS