- CPA Australia Granted Advice Licence;
- ASIC Underlines FoFA Implementation;
- Retirement Expectations Falling Short of Reality
CPA Australia Granted Advice Licence
Accounting body CPA Australia will push ahead with its plans to provide financial advice after its wholly owned subsidiary, CPA Australia Advice was granted an Australian Financial Services (AFS) licence and an Australian Credit Licence (ACL).
CPA Australia and CPA Australia Advice chief executive Alex Malley said the accounting body was aiming to have the advice group operational by 1 July this year and would use no commissions, incentives, or asset based fees and would refer to itself as an independent advice group.
“Independence is at the heart of CPA Australia Advice. Our operations will be consistent with Section 923A of the Corporations Act 2001 which allows us to use terms like ‘independent’, ‘impartial’ and ‘unbiased’ when referencing our services,” Malley said.
“We’ll also be consistent with APES 230, the accounting profession’s standard for members engaged in the provision of quality and ethical financial planning services.
ASIC Underlines FoFA Implementation
The Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) has closed the book on the Future of Financial Advice (FoFA) reforms stating it would no longer send out emails on the legislation or maintain a dedicated email service.
The move adds a note of finality to the implementation of FoFA which was first introduced in July 2013 but was subject to amendments, a reversal of those amendments and the introduction of different amendments – which were recently passed.
In a note to subscribers of a FoFA news service, ASIC stated the Corporations Amendment (Financial Advice Measures) Act 2016 had recently became law, and had moved a number of changes from existing regulation into legislation.
As a result of this ASIC stated it “will now be closing our dedicated FOFA mailbox and will not be sending out any further FOFA newsletters” but encouraged subscribers to sign up for its ongoing wealth and funds management newsletter.
Retirement Expectations Falling Short of Reality
More than half of people aged over 45 believe they will not have sufficient retirement income with most stating they would continue to work in some capacity after retiring from full time work, according to a survey conducted by CoreData.
In its’ 2016 Post-Retirement Report, CoreData found that pre-retirees aged 45 and older expected they would need an average of $1,224 a week in today’s dollars and a super balance of around $800,000 to maintain their desired lifestyle in retirement.
However, 53.1 % of those surveyed for the report believe it was unlikely they would achieve this goal with 81.2% of pre-retirees planning to continue some form work after they retire from full time employment.
CoreData, Head of WA, Kristen Turnbull said average superannuation balances at retirement of $292,500 for men and $138,150 for women highlight that retirees would have to alter their expectations or make financial and lifestyle sacrifices in the present to reach their financial goals in retirement.
Turnbull also stated that awareness and understanding of available retirement solutions is low among pre-retirees, with 31.9% claiming to have a good understanding of what an annuity can offer but only 27.3% likely to consider purchasing one in retirement.
