The Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) is consulting on code of ethics compliance schemes for financial advisers under the new education requirement legislative regime.

A financial services legal specialist has identified limiting the scope of advice being given as the biggest compliance hurdle with which advisers currently have to contend.

Advisers need to be mindful that adherence to the best interest duty introduced under the Future of Financial Advice reforms is not solely determined by the financial outcomes of their clients, a compliance specialist has said.

Specialist SMSF service provider SuperConcepts has unveiled a new online learning tool consisting of 30 modules to help practitioners keep up to date with the latest legislative changes to the sector and comply with their continuing professional development (CPD) requirements.

The Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) is focusing its compliance activity on misleading or deceptive conduct in the marketing and selling of digital or virtual tokens via initial coin offerings (ICO).

SMSF clients who are currently considering entering into a limited recourse borrowing arrangement (LRBA) should seek to settle before 30 June 2018 to minimise the risk of being caught by the federal government’s new Superannuation Taxation Integrity Measures.

Some SMSFs will find it more valuable to be considered a wholesale client or sophisticated investor rather than a retail investor, but advisers must familiarise themselves with the associated law and relevant tests, according to a specialist industry lawyer.

SMSF trustees are often unaware that if they move overseas for an extended period of time, their SMSF may fall foul of the ATO’s residency rules and they may face a heavy tax bill.

Changing an SMSF from an individual trustee to a corporate trustee structure requires accuracy as mistakes could come back to hit advisers, an industry solicitor has warned.