The Financial Planning Association (FPA) says the release of the second tranche of the Future of Financial Advice (FoFA) gives certainty to the financial planning profession to begin preparing for the introduction of the reforms due to come into effect from 1 July 2012.
The FPA speaks for over 8,000 financial planning professionals, who in turn safeguard the financial affairs of more than five million Australians.
FPA CEO Mark Rantall said:
“We have worked closely with the Government over the past two years to ensure this draft legislation works for both financial planners and consumers.”
“It should be remembered that the FoFA reforms were aimed at improving the quality and availability of financial advice and we hope this will help restore consumer trust in the financial planning profession.”
“We are further supporting this aim with a national advertising campaign – launched over the weekend – reinforcing the importance of having a qualified professional mange your finances. It positions the FPA brand as a trust mark for consumers.”
“With only two in five Australians seeking financial advice, it is the profession’s responsibility to improve transparency and access to safeguard the financial future of all Australians.”
“In respect to the details released today, the FPA supports the banning of investment commissions and other conflicted remuneration as this will promote trust and confidence in financial advice and provide a better outcome for all consumers.”
“We released our remuneration policy on banning investment commissions to members in 2009 – well before the issue was raised in the FoFA reforms – and welcome this being enacted under legislation.”
“We also support banning soft dollar benefits which further supports our existing joint venture with the Financial Services Council (FSC) – setting an industry benchmark on how alternative forms of remuneration paid by third parties are managed and disclosed.”
“The FPA also welcomes the Government’s decision not to ban insurance commissions inside superannuation, having convinced the Government that this would have created a double standard and further worsened the under-insurance problems affecting Australian families today.”