The financial advice sector will discover some of the findings and proposals from the federal government’s Quality of Advice Review well before the final report is due to be released in December.
Asked during a panel session at the SMSF Association Technical Summit 2022 on the Gold Coast today whether any results of the review will be released before the end of the year, Allens partner and head of the review Michelle Levy said: “You will see a proposal paper [emanating from the review]. It will delve into the bigger issues [arising from the process].
“It will talk about the kinds of things we’ve been [discussing]. We’d like that to be [released] in two weeks.”
According to Levy, the review has already revealed issues she has found to be very surprising.
“What have I been surprised by? Probably in the main not so much the specific issues that [have been] raised, but the depth of feeling [toward the process],” she said.
“The [other surprising thing] is I suppose the fear of ASIC (Australian Securities and Investments Commission) and AFCA (Australian Financial Complaints Authority).
“There’s a real concern that very minor [compliance] breaches … are going to lead to really severe consequences.”
However, she pointed out that in reality the cases ASIC has brought against financial advisers in the main have been for quite serious breaches of the law and not for trivial matters.
“That [sentiment] is hard to solve, how you address fear, and it’s obviously having a big effect on what people do and that’s a problem,” she noted.
During the session, she assured advisers the significance of the process has definitely been recognised.
“[The review has been] challenging. I am feeling the weight of how important this is in trying to formulate something that will work. So that weighs heavily,” she said.
Levy was appointed to lead the review by then superannuation, financial services and the digital economy minister Jane Hume in March 2022.
