ASIC Levy temporary respite underscores need for collaboration

Neil Macdonald

The Advisers Association (TAA) welcomes the announcement by Federal Treasurer Josh Frydenberg this week, that the Government will temporarily reset the ASIC Adviser Levy (the Levy) back to the 2018/19 financial year level of $1,142 per adviser for the next two financial years. The Levy was to be increased to $3,138 per adviser per year.

“This is a welcome relief for our members and indeed for the entire community of financial advisers,” said TAA CEO, Neil Macdonald. “We are also heartened by the Government’s promise to look at ASIC’s Industry Funding Model to ensure it remains fit for purpose.”

However, Mr Macdonald said the fact that the relief is temporary, and that the Government is reviewing ASIC’s Industry Funding Model, underscores the need for genuine collaboration amongst the advice community to develop sustainable and consumer-focussed solutions.

“It is vital to find a way for all vested interests in our community to genuinely collaborate so that we move forward,” he said. “We need to collectively agree on, and collectively design, a new model for financial advice; a model that has the client at its core, that is sustainable, enables the efficient and cost-effective delivery of financial advice to everyday Australians, and provides consumers with the right level of protections.”

Mr Macdonald said that given the diverse range of vested interests in the financial advice sector, collaboration needs to be approached scientifically. “Genuine collaboration requires not just a willingness on the part of the people within the profession and the industry to work together, but also policies, processes and technology.”

The methodology already exists, he said, in the form of Alignment Optimisation Technology (AOT). AOT helps synthesise diverse opinions, arrive at a consensus, and work efficiently towards a consensus goal, via an agreed and co-ordinated set of actions. Although a comparatively new approach, it is already being used by a wide range of Fortune 100 companies in the US.