An SMSF strategist has warned practitioners to be mindful of the unconventional framework under which the Financial Adviser Standards and Ethics Authority (FASEA) operates.
“One thing I’m sort of semi-concerned about is [FASEA’s framework]. The way the law works is you usually have bills that then turn into acts after they’ve passed through both the Senate and the House of Reps and they go through to the Governor-General,” I Love SMSF founder Grant Abbott said recently.
“It’s very unusual for parliament to give anybody delegated legislation [which FASEA has]. I’ve only seen it on two or three occasions with the tax office where they’ve passed the ability for the tax office to provide delegated legislation.”
According to Abbott, this is a differentiating feature of FASEA for all practitioners coming under its umbrella.
“So whatever regulations FASEA puts out there’s no lobbying process or anything like that. You can lobby government, but at the end of the day you actually have to go to FASEA and what it puts on as a relevant course is virtually God’s will,” he said.
He described it as a very scary situation for all advisers in the industry and one they needed to be wary about.
