The levy charged to financial advisers for the work of the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) will decrease by more than $500 as the regulator estimates it will spend around $9 million less in the next year to oversee the sector.
The regulator today released its Cost Recovery Implementation Statement (CRIS) for 2024/25, which stated licensees would continue to pay a $1500 levy and the total estimated cost recovery amount from the financial advice sector would be $39.271 million, drawn from 2680 licensees and 15,233 advisers, or $2314 per adviser.
This latter estimated figure represents a decrease of $564 per adviser from 2023/24’s cost of $2878, and a drop of $9.2 million for the sector from the previous year’s total levy amount of $48.39 million.
The decrease is in sharp contrast to the large increase advisers are required to pay to fund the operations of the Compensation Scheme of Last Resort (CSLR), which is estimated to be $70.11 million in the 2026 financial year, well above the $20 million cap for the sector put in place when the scheme commenced operations.
Under the cap, the CSLR levy per adviser will be $1295, but could climb as high as $4500 if the remaining $50 million is imposed on the sector by a special levy that would be put in place by Financial Services Minister Daniel Mulino early in the 2026 financial year.
ASIC stated it planned to spend $5.6 million on supervision and surveillance, $17.18 million on enforcement activities and $2.49 million on engaging with industry and providing education and guidance, and noted the published levies were a guide only with final charges to be issued in December.
Earlier this year, the regulator stated its key areas of focus were going to include cold-calling operations encouraging consumers to switch superannuation, SMSF establishment advice and its compliance with the law, supporting the delivery of advice reforms and monitoring the use of artificial intelligence by licensees.
In the CRIS, it stated it expected to recover a total of $349.3 million of regulatory costs via cost recovery levies and statutory levies drawn from the deposit-taking and credit, investment management, superannuation and related services, market infrastructure and intermediaries, financial advice and insurance sectors in the 2024 financial year.
