With CSLR claims relating to personal advice set to exceed $67m for the 2025-26 year, well above the $20m limit on levies, Minister for Financial Services Daniel Mulino has asked Treasury to look at the options available to “deal with this matter”.
Treasury has responded by launching a consultation paper with a submission deadline of 29 August 2025 as advisers face paying a ‘special’ levy of $47m.
“I look forward to engaging constructively with stakeholders to address the excess and consider opportunities to support the ongoing sustainability of the CSLR,” said Mulino.
“Stakeholder feedback on this matter will also inform ongoing consideration into the CSLR as part of the CSLR Post-implementation Review.”
CEO of the FSC Blake Briggs responded saying his organisation will closely review the options outlined in the consultation paper.
“The Minister should have regard to the risk of entrenching further moral hazard into the scheme through underwriting investment losses, the financial sustainability and viability of sub-sectors, and spreading the cost as widely as possible to minimise the burden on any one sector,” said Briggs.
The Minister should have regard to the risk of entrenching further moral hazard into the scheme…
“If the industry is going to bear the costs of the $47 million special levy, the industry needs assurance that the scheme will not continue to blow out year on year.”
Briggs said the CSLR scheme has blown out by 840% from Treasury’s initial estimate of $8.1m a year to $75.7m.
“It is simply not sustainable to have an indeterminate and growing liability being imposed on the parts of the sector doing the right thing, to pay for the sins of others,” he said.
In July, the CSLR operator announced the revised levy estimate of $75.7 million, with $67.3 million of this sum attributable to the personal advice sector. The financial adviser population has fallen by more than 44% since 2019, but levy costs have continued to rise.
Click here to see our previous reports on the CSLR.
