Shorten predicts few changes to Labor's reforms
The Minister for Financial Services, Bill Shorten, has predicted that few of the financial services reforms implemented by the Gillard Government will be amended or repealed.
Addressing the Financial Services Council conference on the Gold Coast, Shorten said he believed there would be very little change if the Government lost office.
He said he believed this would be proved out if the legislative and regulatory settings were reviewed in five years' time.
Shorten's comments appear to run counter to undertakings by the Opposition spokesman on financial services, Senator Mathias Cormann, that a Coalition government would repeal a number of aspects of the Future of Financial Advice legislation, including opt-in.
Shorten predicted, however, that a number of things would change, including a settling of the feud between industry funds and retail super funds such that financial planners would recommend industry funds to their clients.
He said the Government had succeeded in implementing important reforms that would stand the test of time.
Recommended for you
Financial Services Minister Stephen Jones has shared further details on the second tranche of the Delivering Better Financial Outcomes reforms including modernising best interests duty and reforming Statements of Advice.
The Federal Court has found a company director guilty of operating unregistered managed investment schemes and carrying on a financial services business without holding an AFSL.
The Governance Institute has said ASIC’s governance arrangements are no longer “fit for purpose” in a time when financial markets are quickly innovating and cyber crime becomes a threat.
Compliance professionals working in financial services are facing burnout risk as higher workloads, coupled with the ever-changing regulation, place notable strain on staff.
