Alan Kirkland, Commissioner of the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC), has provided an overview of the state of financial advice.
Addressing industry stakeholders Kirkland outlined ASIC’s observations, ongoing investigations, and priorities for the year ahead.
He opened his remarks by acknowledging signs of improvement in the quality of financial advice.
He said factors contributing to this include higher adviser education standards, a stronger emphasis on the best interests duty by licensees, and the adoption of recommendations from ASIC’s 2017 review of large institutions’ oversight of advisers.
“I think it’s fair to say, we’ve seen some positive indications through work that ASIC has done,” he said.
“That includes the work that we did on the Life Insurance Framework Review, where we saw a significant improvement in the quality of advice between 2017 and 2021.
“And although the scope and findings of that work were limited to life insurance advice, some of our observations from the review and input from industry stakeholders suggest that several factors have influenced an improvement in standards of advice in parts of the industry.”
…30% increase in investigations launched in the last six months of 2024…
Turning to ASIC’s agenda for 2025, Kirkland highlighted two key priorities with direct relevance to financial advice:
- Improve consumer outcomes – covering predatory sales tactics, design and distribution obligations and dispute resolution
- Better retirement outcomes and member services – including a focus on entities and individuals involved in the provision of advice.
He also pointed to an uptick in enforcement activity, with a 30% increase in investigations launched in the last six months of 2024 compared to the previous year.
Kirkland concluded by saying ASIC’s tougher enforcement stance is a necessary step to protect consumers and bolster confidence in the financial advice sector.
“When advice goes terribly wrong, the harm it causes can damage confidence in the entire industry,” he said.
