AFA News 17 March 2022. On 11 March 2022, Minister Jane Hume released the final Terms of Reference for the Quality of Advice Review and also named corporate lawyer Michelle Levy as the reviewer.
The final Terms of Reference are very similar to the draft that was released in December 2021, however they now specifically exclude the following areas:
- The professional standards for financial advisers.
- The Single Disciplinary Body, Reference Checking, Breach Reporting and the new Notify, Investigate and Remediate obligations.
- Changes to the definition of wholesale clients and sophisticated investors and the income and asset thresholds that apply.
- Financial services redress arrangements (IDR and AFCA).
- The application of taxation and privacy laws to financial advice.
Michelle Levy is a partner at the top tier legal firm Allens and is noted as someone who specialises in superannuation, life insurance, distribution and financial services law. She previously co-authored the LexisNexis FoFA Handbook, so she must have a good understanding of the financial advice regulatory regime. We look forward to working with her on this important review.
We are pleased that the Terms of Reference have now been finalised and a reviewer appointed, so the review can now commence, and we can focus on coming up with solutions to ensure that financial advice is both accessible and affordable. We see this as a great opportunity to significantly improve the financial advice process and related servicing and renewal processes.
A final report to Government is due by 16 December 2022, however, we expect to see an interim report and have the opportunity to contribute to the review throughout.
One key implication of the exclusion of professional standards from the Terms of Reference is that it is now entirely in the hands of the Minister to resolve the Education Standard for Financial Advisers and we remain hopeful that this will be resolved in the short term.
Please click here for a copy of the Minister’s media release.
Please click here for a copy of the Quality of Advice Review Terms of Reference.
For any questions on the Quality of Advice Review, please email policy@afa.asn.au.
Issued 17.03.2022. AFA Policy & Education Update
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