Returned Govt urged to help grow adviser numbers
Removing the barriers to entry for financial advisers has emerged as a key consensus issue for financial planner groups before the Prime Minister, Anthony Albanese has even hinted at the name of his next Assistant Treasurer and Minister for Financial Services.
The Financial Advice Association of Australia listed making entry to the profession easier on its post-election wish list, as did My Dealer Services (MDS), while the major accounting groups opted to press for a majority Labor Government to attempt genuine tax reform.
The industry superannuation funds had little to say about financial advice but urged the returned Government to hasten the implementation of pay day superannuation and lifting the Low-Income Super Tax Offset (LISTO).
There were no surprises in the FAAA’s post-election wish list, with chief executive, Sarah Abood listing the priorities as follows:
- Fix the Compensation Scheme of Last Resort (CSLR)
- Provide adviser access to the ATO portal
- Deliver effective DBFO reforms and implement a standardised fee consent form
- Instigate a financial services razor-gang to cut red tape
- Support new entrants to the financial advice profession.
At the same time self-licensing specialist company, My Dealer Services director, Alexander Euvrard said the focus for the new minister should be growing the number of advice industry professionals while giving the industry clear rules within which it can decide its own destiny.
“With the outgoing Minister for Financial Services, Stephen Jones, admitting he failed to achieve key goals such as removing band-aid solutions and stemming the loss of advisers numbers to the current 15,000, now is the time for decisive action from the new Minister of Financial Services, not continuous promises and inaction,” Euvrard said.
Euvrard said that while there has been much talk of DBFO reforms, SOA changes and reducing administration and compliance, these things while important, were all secondary to the imperative of building the industry through increased adviser numbers.
The FAAA’s Abood made clear that her organisation’s priorities were around reducing costs to advisers and fixing the Compensation Scheme of Last Resort (CSLR) but also gave a nodded to growing the profession.
She said the Government needed to take active steps to grow the profession by supporting new entrants and addressing long-standing barriers to entry.
“We must make it easier for talented individuals to join our profession. That includes offering financial support to employers of Professional Year candidates, making the exam more accessible, and ensuring flexibility in the education framework,” she said.
Not surprisingly, organisations that make money from adviser volume, are portraying removing barriers to adviser entry as a key priority.
But it is not a priority for real professionals at all. Higher standards for advisers is one of the few good things to come out of all the regulatory changes. The real priority is removing unnecessary regulatory cost and complexity which prevents existing advisers from servicing more clients.
So the FAAA supported existing advisers spend considerable money on getting more qualifications and they now support those qualifications not being needed? Makes sense to me.