Professionalism key to SMSF advice
While the self-managed super fund (SMSF) advice space may have changed with the introduction of limited licensing, it is the concept of an SMSF profession that remains paramount, according to Andrea Slattery, chief executive officer of the SMSF Professionals' Association of Australia (SPAA).
"As a sector and as an industry body, we have introduced a profession, and that profession is growing," she said.
"And when it comes to limited AFSLs (Australian Financial Services Licenses), there have been only 19 registrations for limited licenses so far, and that's in the first 2, nearly 3 months.
"But in many ways, that's not surprising because there are a lot of people who are SPAA members who, over the last 8 years, have actually got their full license and have long since entered the advice market," Slattery continued.
"These are people who were accountants but have become financial services providers either by doing what they were doing before and only providing strategic advice, or they've simply moved on and obtained full licenses to actually provide investment advice as well."
According to Slattery, the introduction of limited licensing had simply increased advice opportunities.
"So all this is doing is continuing a trend that has been around for a long time where SPAA members have actually been leaders in the market, in providing these services," she said.
"The AFSL and the limited license is an opportunity for people to provide their strategic services on a limited range of opportunities, including the SMSF, to a certain point and at a lower cost.
"So the way we see SMSF advice moving forward is that there will be a continuum of a profession," Slattery continued.
"There will therefore be a continuum of people committing to their own competence and becoming specialised and leading that profession.
"But most importantly, there will be a reduction of the expectation gap for consumers in the information, services, advice and products that they receive as this profession grows and as peoples' confidence and development of their services grow."
Originally published by SMSF Essentials.
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