ASIC points to re-emergence of commissions
The Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) has fired a shot over the bows of Self Managed Superannuation Fund (SMSF) one stop shops, warning that they may be giving rise to the reintroduction of commissions.
The regulator's warning was issued by ASIC commissioner, Greg Tanzer who used a CPA Australia SMSF conference to point to the collapse of the Charterhill Group which had operated as a one stop shop.
He said the collapse of the Charterhill group had raised a number of questions about operators using the one stop shop business model.
Tanzer said that ASIC's so-called SMSF Taskforce had identified a number of issues with one stop shop arrangements, including "that a feature of these business models is a ‘one size fits all' approach where all investors who use their multiple services receive the same suite of products and services — that is, they end up with an SMSF, a property investment and a limited-recourse borrowing arrangement".
He said the ASIC project team was also exploring whether commissions were being paid within these business models and whether these commissions were consistent with the restrictions on payment of commissions for advice under the FOFA reforms.
"Under the Corporations Amendment (Streamlining of Future of Financial Advice) Bill 2014 introduced on 19 March 2014, some forms of commission that were originally banned under FOFA will be reintroduced," Tanzer said. "It is worth noting that where commissions are permitted, they must still be clearly disclosed to retail clients."
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