The unsurprising result of our latest poll reinforces what many across the advice sector have been advocating for some years now: it’s time to review the LIF commission caps.
As the Government continues to shape any meaningful advice sector reforms around the fallout from the First Guardian/Shield Master Funds advice scandal, the overwhelming message being sent to it by the adviser community is that it’s time to act on risk commissions.
We also note this poll topic isn’t calling for commission caps to be increased. Rather it’s simply asking whether the current 60/20 caps should be reviewed. If and when this finally happens, arguments both for and against changes to the caps will be strongly debated.
Wise people over the years have observed that government is often about prioritising. What’s most important? Where should a government focus its finite resources? In the financial services sector, the present Government is prioritising its focus on the First Guardian/Shield Master Funds issue and most in the sector would acknowledge this to be the right call, especially given the scale of the issue and the number of Australians impacted.
…time is a finite commodity for the Government
While this focus is merited, the question still needs to be asked of the Financial Services Minister about when the rest of the Delivering Better Financial Outcomes reforms will be legislated and when he and the Treasury will have the time to finally address and review the current settings imposed by the Life Insurance Framework reforms.
Almost everyone in the sector thinks it’s time, but the issue appears to be that time is a finite commodity for the Government, and that finite commodity is currently being consumed elsewhere.
