The FAAA has welcomed ASIC’s announcement of relief measures that allow financial advisers to rely on website disclosure information instead of providing a Financial Services Guide when dealing in financial products as a result of providing financial advice.
Phil Anderson, general manager policy, advocacy and standards at FAAA, says this relief, which is welcomed by financial advisers, “…resolves a problem that was identified in the law following the passing of the Delivering Better Financial Outcomes Bill, where the service of dealing was unintentionally not captured by this reform.”
…dealing … is a critical service provided to clients…
Anderson says dealing, which includes implementing a product that has been recommended as part of the provision of financial advice, is a critical service provided to clients.
“This relief now provides certainty to enable financial advice businesses to rely upon the FSG reform in the DBFO Bill.”
Anderson told Riskinfo the benefit with the DBFO reform with respect to FSGs, is the ability to rely upon the client being able to access this information on a website “…rather than the adviser needing to reissue an FSG to all their clients whenever anything changes.”
He explains there is also a material risk in a business model “…where you provide an updated FSG when you next provide a financial service, if you miss the fact that a financial service has not been provided since the FSG was last updated.”
…there are some very stringent penalties for FSG breaches…
Anderson added there are some very stringent penalties for FSG breaches. “This reform addresses the fact that having the information available on the website is just a better way of making this information available to clients.”
In the FAAA statement Anderson notes that the association has been working with ASIC on this matter since September when the problem was identified “…and we are very pleased that ASIC has delivered a workable solution to the financial services industry.”
While acknowledging the temporary nature of ASIC’s relief, Anderson says the FAAA is committed to working with the Federal Government to pursue a permanent solution.
