AFA News 20 December 2021. On Thursday 16 December 2021, the Government issued a draft Terms of Reference for the Quality of Advice Review that will be held in 2022. This is a particularly important review as it will not only address some of the remaining issues from the Hayne Royal Commission, but also assess the effectiveness of recent reforms and address accessibility and affordability of financial advice.
The Terms of Reference are very broad and include a number of key areas that are central to the success of the financial advice profession. Amongst a long list of in-scope considerations, some of the most important areas addressed in the draft Terms of Reference are the following:
- Financial advice disclosure requirements including statements of advice;
- Recent reforms to introduce annual renewal for ongoing fee arrangements;
- The life insurance remuneration reforms, and the impact of the reforms on the levels of insurance coverage;
- The level of demand for advice and the needs and preferences of consumers;
- Opportunities to reduce compliance costs on industry, while maintaining adequate consumer safeguards.
We can take a level of confidence from these draft Terms of Reference that the Quality of Advice Review will confront the key issues, and that the Government is seemingly open to change on many fronts.
The Review will be undertaken by an independent reviewer with the report to be provided to the Government by 16 December 2022.
Please click here for a copy of the Review of the Quality of Financial Advice draft Terms of Reference.
Consultation on the draft Terms of Reference closes on 4 February 2022.
Please provide any feedback on the draft Terms of Reference to policy@afa.asn.au.
Issued 20.12.2021. AFA Policy & Education Update
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