On 17 July 2014, the Government announced that it would establish an enhanced register of financial advisers.
An enhanced register of financial advisers will enable consumers to verify that their adviser is appropriately authorised to provide advice and find out more information about their adviser before receiving financial advice. The register will also give employers greater ability to assess new financial advisers and improve the Australian Securities and Investments Commission’s (ASIC) ability to identify and monitor all financial advisers, which will help to remove disreputable participants from the industry over time.
On 24 October 2014, the Government announced details of the register’s content.
The Exposure Draft of the Corporations Amendment (Register of Relevant Providers) Regulation 2014 (the Regulation) proposes to make a number of amendments to the Corporations Regulation 2014 to:
– enable ASIC to establish and maintain a public register of financial advisers; and
– for Australian Financial Service licensees to collect and provide information to ASIC concerning financial advisers that operate under their licence.
A Consultation Note has also been developed to invite feedback from stakeholders on the key drafting issues, to ensure that the Regulation will implement the Government’s policy intent. This Consultation Note also includes: information on timing to enable the Register to be implemented by March 2015; and detail on the form lodgement fee increases necessary to fund the register.
Making a Submission
Interested parties are invited to comment on the Exposure Draft of the Corporations Amendment (Register of Relevant Providers) Regulation 2014.
While submissions may be lodged electronically or by post, electronic lodgement is preferred. For accessibility reasons, please submit responses sent via email in a Word or RTF format. An additional PDF version may also be submitted.
All information (including name and address details) contained in submissions will be made available to the public on the Treasury website unless you indicate that you would like all or part of your submission to remain in confidence. Automatically generated confidentiality statements in emails do not suffice for this purpose. Respondents who would like part of their submission to remain in confidence should provide this information marked as such in a separate attachment.
Legal requirements, such as those imposed by the Freedom of Information Act 1982, may affect the confidentiality of your submission.
Closing date for submissions: Wednesday, 17 December 2014
Address written submissions to:
Manager
Financial Services Unit
Financial System and Services Division
The Treasury
Langton Crescent
PARKES ACT 2600
Email: adviserregister@treasury.gov.au
