AFA News 30 June 2022. One point of pushback that we often get from Canberra is that there are too many voices in the financial advice space and that we are all asking for different things. This is a common refrain; however, it is also often used as a justification for not having done more to support financial advice clients and financial advisers in recent years. In reality, the AFA regularly meets with and works with other associations on important matters with respect to the financial advice profession.
The Quality of Advice Review has resulted in an unprecedented level of cooperation, as we all seek a better future for the financial advice profession. Even before the release of the Quality of Advice Review Issues Paper on 25 March 2022, a large group of associations have been working together to agree on a core set of recommendations. In the end, this group expanded to 12 separate groups and includes all the major associations that have an interest in financial advice and a willingness to work together for the greater good.
There has been some isolated criticism of these 12 associations working together to develop a joint submission, however from our perspective, being able to put together a submission across these 12 groups that includes many of the recommendations that we made, was an important achievement. This is a critical time when there are consistent calls for sensible reform to address the problems in the financial advice regulatory and operational regimes and to make financial advice more accessible and affordable for everyday Australians. We were pleased that this broad group agreed to call for the retention of life insurance commissions.
Joint Submission Recommendations
The joint submission has five key themes:
- Consumer-Focused – putting Client needs first.
- Recognition of Professionalism – recognising financial advice as a profession and financial advisers as professionals.
- Regulatory Certainty – ensuring the regulation and enforcement of the law are consistent.
- Open Data and Innovation – standardising and sharing data to remove duplication and reduce rework.
- Sustainability – ensuring the sustainability of the financial advice profession and practices, with a focus on continuous innovation and improvement.
Please click here for a copy of the Joint Associations QAR submission.
The work on this joint submission was occurring at the same time that we developed our own submission. Please click here to see the AFA submission.
For any questions on the Joint Associations submission, or the AFA submission, please email policy@afa.asn.au.
Issued 30.06.2022. AFA Policy & Education Update
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