Brad Cooper

BT Financial Group CEO Brad Cooper said that the proposed reforms to advice and superannuation contained in the Government’s response to the Financial System Inquiry have the potential to boost retirement incomes and deliver a better quality of life to the bulk of the community.

“We welcome the Government’s announcement that it will enshrine the objectives of superannuation into legislation. This will help achieve policy consistency and certainty for providers looking to deliver the suite of complex financial products and services required to ensure more Australians have a comfortable retirement journey.

“Most importantly, this will provide Australians with a greater level of confidence in the superannuation system and ensure that any futures changes to the system will need to be consistent with this objective.”

Mr Cooper says BTFG is also broadly supportive of the recommendation that trustees be able to pre-select for members a comprehensive income product for retirement.

“Retirees have differing needs in retirement, therefore the recommended income product should be principles-based and supported by an integrated advice model which provides targeted, simple advice to members to ensure that the pre-selected product is properly calibrated.”
BTFG also strongly supports initiatives that help lift the professional standards of financial advisers.

“Building the community’s confidence in the financial planning industry is incredibly important if we are going to ensure that more Australians seek expert advice on how to plan for their retirement.”

“This is why we wholeheartedly support the introduction of a consistent registration exam for all providers of personal advice, a supervised professional development year of no less than 12 months for new advisers and the introduction of a code of ethics for all advisers.

We also support the lifting of minimum education standards for financial planners and we have been on this journey for some time. Australians deserve to have confidence in the person they seek advice from,” Mr Cooper concluded.

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