{"id":27820,"date":"2014-10-27T16:34:15","date_gmt":"2014-10-27T05:34:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/riskinfo.com.au\/news\/?p=27820"},"modified":"2024-10-23T11:17:50","modified_gmt":"2024-10-23T01:17:50","slug":"industry-backs-government-adviser-register","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/riskinfo.com.au\/news\/2014\/10\/27\/industry-backs-government-adviser-register\/","title":{"rendered":"Industry Backs Government Adviser Register"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.5em;\">The Government\u2019s new register of financial advisers has been given the thumbs up from industry stakeholders, ahead of its launch in March 2015.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><!--more-->Senator Mathias Cormann announced further details about the register last week, saying it would give investors, employers and the regulator confidence that advisers were appropriately qualified and experienced.<\/p>\n<p>The financial services industry has been united in its praise of the initiative, although some stakeholder groups have questioned whether the measure goes far enough.<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>It is critical that consumers know as much as they can about the adviser they are considering engaging<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>According to Senator Cormann, the register of financial advisers will include:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>The adviser&#8217;s name, registration number, status, and experience<\/li>\n<li>The advisers&#8217; qualifications and professional association memberships<\/li>\n<li>The adviser&#8217;s licensee, previous licensees\/authorised representatives and business name<\/li>\n<li>The product areas the adviser can provide advice on<\/li>\n<li>Any bans, disqualifications or enforceable undertakings<\/li>\n<li>Details around ownership of the financial services licensee and disclosure of the ultimate parent company where applicable<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>It is estimated that the register will cost around $5million to set up, and will be funded through an increase to the lodgement fee for Australian Financial Services licensees.<\/p>\n<p>Financial Services Council outgoing CEO, <strong>John Brogden<\/strong>, said the register was an important consumer service that the industry will be pleased to fund.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe register will provide consumers with the relevant and important details of financial advisers so they can make informed choices.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt is critical that consumers know as much as they can about the adviser they are considering engaging. We are pleased that the register will disclose the ultimate owner of the licensee and the parent company. This will ensure full transparency,\u201d Mr Brogden said.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_27822\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-27822\" style=\"width: 150px\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\"><a href=\"https:\/\/riskinfo.com.au\/news\/files\/2014\/10\/Deborah-Kent-2.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-27822\" src=\"https:\/\/riskinfo.com.au\/news\/files\/2014\/10\/Deborah-Kent-2.jpg\" alt=\"AFA President, Deborah Kent\" width=\"150\" height=\"180\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-27822\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">AFA President, Deborah Kent<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>New Association of Financial Advisers (AFA) National President, <strong>Deborah Kent<\/strong>, described the register as a great outcome for consumers. She also congratulated the Government on the prompt turn-around time proposed, and the inclusion of advisers\u2019 professional membership details in the register.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cConsumers will now be able to recognize the importance of professional membership of an association like the AFA, and understand that our members are accountable to the AFA Code of Conduct. This will enhance confidence that the adviser is working in their best interests,\u201d Ms Kent said.<\/p>\n<p>The Financial Planning Association (FPA) said access to key information about advisers would improve trust.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThis register provides better consumer protection,\u201d said FPA CEO, <strong>Mark Rantall<\/strong>. \u201cWhen you go to a financial planner you have the right to know you can trust the person you choose. This is a big step in the right direction.<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>It will also help weed out bad apples and provide protection for licensees<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>\u201cThe register will help people identify licensed financial planners with the best credentials. It will also help weed out bad apples and provide protection for licensees, employers and Australians seeking financial advice.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Industry Super Australia similarly welcomed the announcement, but argued that it also needed to include information about the way the adviser is paid, and whether they are in receipt of any sales bonuses or other incentives.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe principal piece of information consumers need is whether a financial adviser is exclusively paid by the client or whether he or she also receives sales incentives from product provider. This greatly affects the quality and impartiality of advice,\u201d said <strong>David Whiteley<\/strong>, ISA Chief Executive.<\/p>\n<p>Mr Whitely did not provide any recommendations on how this information could be disclosed, but said that all \u201cremuneration practices\u201d should be included within the register.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Government\u2019s new register of financial advisers has been given the thumbs up from industry stakeholders, ahead of its launch in March 2015.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-27820","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","category-compliance-regulation","headers-new"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/riskinfo.com.au\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27820","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/riskinfo.com.au\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/riskinfo.com.au\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/riskinfo.com.au\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/riskinfo.com.au\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=27820"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/riskinfo.com.au\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27820\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/riskinfo.com.au\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=27820"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/riskinfo.com.au\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=27820"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/riskinfo.com.au\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=27820"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}