The Financial Advice Association Australia (FAAA) has welcomed the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) decision to provide relief measures that will effectively reduce red tape and expenses advisers would have otherwise had to encounter in servicing clients.
To this end, the corporate regulator recently announced financial services licensees and authorised representatives will be able to rely on information disclosed on their websites with regard to financial products when implementing a financial plan and as such will not be required to provide clients with a separate financial services guide (FSG).
“This relief resolves a problem that was identified in the law following the passing of the Delivering Better Financial Outcomes (DBFO) bill, where the service of dealing was unintentionally not captured by this reform. Dealing, which includes implementing a product that has been recommended as part of the provision of financial advice, is a critical service provided to clients,” FAAA policy, advocacy and standards general manager Phil Anderson noted.
“This relief now provides certainty to enable financial advice businesses to rely upon the FSG reform in the DBFO bill.
“The FAAA has been working with ASIC on this matter since September, when the problem was identified, and we are very pleased that ASIC has delivered a workable solution to the financial services industry.”
Anderson acknowledged the current ASIC relief provided in relation to the issue is only temporary, but stipulated the FAAA is aiming to work with the federal government to formulate a permanent solution.
The regulator’s action was included in the ASIC Corporations (Amendment) Instrument 2024/809 released to address an unintended consequence of the Treasury Laws Amendment (Delivering Better Financial Outcomes and Other Measures) Act 2024.
The new item amends the ASIC Corporations (Financial Services Guides) Instrument 2015/541 that originally dealt with anomalies identified in the DBFO Act.
