“The opt-in proposal is bad public policy that will harm more Australians than it will benefit,” said FPA chief executive Mark Rantall.

“The best interests of Australians are served by receiving the known and measurable value of an ongoing duty of care from a professional financial planning practitioner bound by a fiduciary duty to their client.”

All FPA members are bound to a code of conduct and already operate under a world’s best regulatory regime. The FPA has embraced transparent guidelines regarding the banning of upfront and trailing commission payments and is aggressively pursuing a mandate for heightened professional standards.

The banning of commissions effectively renders opt-in a redundant policy solution looking for a problem.

“Our members continue to improve access for all Australians to quality, affordable financial advice. Opt-in will erode these benefits by introducing administrative complexity, confusion and increased compliance costs,” he said.

Proponents of the ‘opt-in’ argument are running a myopic campaign that risks endangering the robust financial futures for many Australians. The FPA is tired of the industry fund one track agenda, and with the removal of commission based payments can see no logical reason for continuing this time-consuming debate.

Recently, the FPA provided members with a comprehensive ‘FoFA Pack’ detailing the key issues raised by the Future of Financial Advice (FoFA) reforms. This pack outlines the FPA stance on opt-in and encourages financial planners to engage with their local MP to ensure that as many politicians as possible have a clear understanding of the issues facing the financial planning industry and Australians.

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