Sarah Abood
The FAAA is particularly concerned by the significant increase in the ASIC Funding Levy for the 2025/56 financial year, up 27%. This, along with the recently announced CSLR special levy, will have a very significant cost impact on the financial advice profession.
Government levies could reach well over $5,000 per adviser this year. This is based upon $3,037 for the ASIC funding levy for 2025/26, plus the CSLR annual levy and an allocation for the FY27 CSLR special levy (totalling $170.3 million). We do not yet know how the special levy will be allocated. However, if the waterfall model proposed in the most recent CSLR consultation were to be used, advisers could pay an additional $20 million this financial year (on top of the $20 million base levy already paid). With just over 15,000 advisers currently, that would be another $1,300 per adviser this year – on top of the $1,312 each adviser has already paid for the sector cap.
This is a crippling cost imposed on a sector that is almost entirely made up of small businesses. It underscores the critical importance of the Government taking action to address the sustainability of the CSLR and to reduce these levies.
The most significant driver of this year’s 27% increase in the ASIC Funding Levy is higher enforcement costs. However, the information provided by ASIC has no meaningful explanation of the reasons for this increase or where the $24 million cost of enforcement was spent.
This increased ASIC Funding Levy is against a backdrop of record levels of fines awarded by the courts with respect to cases brought by ASIC – over $800 million. The FAAA continues to argue that the fines collected as a result of ASIC’s pursuit of wrongdoers should be used to offset the ASIC Funding Levy and the CSLR Levy. It is unreasonable for the financial advice profession to fund this enforcement activity, when all fines are paid straight to Consolidated Revenue for the benefit of the Government.
We repeat our previous calls for improved transparency from ASIC on how it allocates costs, and for Treasury’s recommendations for changes to the ASIC Industry Funding Model – handed down in June 2023 – to be implemented.
By Sarah Abood, CEO
