There are mixed views on the proposed decoupling of ‘personal advice’ from the definition of ‘financial service’, according to submissions to the ALRC’s Financial Services Legislation inquiry.
Treasurer Josh Frydenberg (source: Twitter)
The Australian Securities and Investment Commission has had its budget reduced by over seven per cent and will be asked to shed a corresponding ten per cent of its staff as a raft of changes to its job suite begin to shift the regulator’s purview.
While the money flowed as part of a budget aimed at securing Australia’s recovery, ASIC’s budget will drop from $772 million to $717 million in 2021-22, while its staff will drop from 2,096 to 1,878.
Ostensibly, the cutbacks are a natural follow-on from the government’s 2020 Budget Digital Business Plan, which will see ASIC’s business registration function transferred to the new Australian Business Registry Services (ABRS) under the Australian Tax Office.
The corporate regulator has rejected an assertion from liberal MP Bert Van Manen that its advice lookback requests “back as far as 2008” assess advisers on the basis of standards that did not exist at that time.
Speaking at the Parliamentary Joint Committee inquiry into ASIC’s oversight on December 16, Van Manen voiced a common line of complaint from the industry – that benchmarking advisers against today’s regulatory standards for work completed many years ago is contributing to undue fear and forcing the sector to overcompensate compliance.
“Does ASIC acknowledge that these circumstances heavily influence how the financial advice sector responds to regulatory risk?” the MP asked.