“It is important the system not become clogged with minor, technical or inadvertent breaches that would not otherwise be significant.
“SAFAA welcomes the change to the bill that provides ASIC must only convene a panel in prescribed circumstances. We hope that this ensures that the panel only deals with material matters.”
It also recommended:
To remove the requirement for additional education and training standards for tax (financial) advisers;
To find a solution that enabled advisers who don’t provide advice to retail clients and were not on the Financial Adviser Register (FAR) to continue to provide tax (financial advice) to wholesale clients;
Industry associations have welcomed the one-off exam measure but would have liked the extension to have included those who had experienced significant events that had prevented them from passing the exam.
Given the proposed Single Disciplinary Body will be funded through the new adviser registration fee and the increase in the corporate regulator’s funding levy, the body should only deal with major matters, the Association of Financial Advisers believes.
If the proposed single disciplinary body goes after all breaches of law, FASEA standards and the code of ethics its cost will balloon and eventually trickle down to advisers, the association says.