FPA reinforces adviser registration in response to FSC

The Financial Planning Association (FPA) has responded to the Financial Services Council’s (FSC’s) financial advice white paper by stressing the need for the creation of a personal obligation for advisers to register. 

At the same time as welcoming the FSC’s white paper, the FPA said it broadly aligned with the FPA’s five-year policy platform roadmap introduced last year and thanked the FSC for engaging with the FPA through its green paper process and picking up many of the same themes made by the FPA 18 months earlier. 

The release of this white paper has demonstrated the FSC’s commitment to joining with us in the discussion of how to put advice delivery back in the hands of professional financial planners and in the reach of all Australian consumers. The financial planning profession will now benefit from a stronger and unified representative voice on the issues most critical to them. 

 “With the Government’s intention to introduce a single set of standards for the financial planning profession, we believe now is also the time to prioritise the establishment of a principles-based professional and ethical advice model, as opposed to the current ‘tick-a-box’ rules based approach to compliance under the existing regulatory framework,” the FPA statement said. 

 “With these measures in place, the next crucial step to get right and ensure the success of the proposed single disciplinary model and a principles-based professional advice model is to create a true professional registration model, which is a key recommendation from the FPA’s Policy Platform. The creation of a personal obligation to register is an essential component of any professional framework and this is essential to achieving the outcomes the FPA and FSC have recommended in our respective policy visions.” 

 “The FPA looks forward to continuing discussions with the Government and regulators to identify opportunities to continue to build a thriving profession,” the FPA said. 

“As part of FPA’s ongoing advocacy efforts, progress has already been made on a number of fronts including the single disciplinary body, single registration, single set of fees, single set of professional standards, professional registration, access to data, tax deductibility of advice fees, insurance advice fees and more.”