Senator Jane Hume

The advice industry’s lobbying efforts are not falling on deaf ears, with concerns relating to tight transitional time-frames for new professional standards being listened to and considered by the government, Senator Jane Hume has said.

“We know that it is important to strike the right balance between the need to improve the professional standards of advisers operating in the industry, but we also understand many of these advisers need to balance their work, running their businesses, their study and their family conditions,” Hume, who addressed the Financial Services Council Annual Summit on Tuesday, said.

“The government is listening to these concerns and is carefully considering the right way to proceed,” Hume, who became the Assistant Minister for Superannuation, Financial Services and Financial Technology at the May Federal Election, said.

During a separate panel discussion at the FSC Summit on Tuesday, Dante De Gori, the FPA’s CEO, acknowledged Hume’s remarks relating to listening to and considering the industry’s concerns; he added that hoped this would lead to a reprieve for some advisers in the form of a policy outcome.

New Financial Advice Standards and Ethics Authority (FASEA) standards for advisers looking to stay in or enter the industry have coincided with major disruptions which thousands of advisers have been displaced as financial institutions have changed their respective wealth strategies.

The requirement to adhere to a Code of Ethics by 2020; to have passed an exam by 2021; to have gained a degree or equivalent qualification by 2024; these are among the laundry-list of new standards for financial advisers now enshrined in law. Among the most pressing deadlines is the requirement for advisers to subscribe to an approved code monitoring scheme by November this year.

“I am well aware that financial advisers and industry representatives have concerns about their capacity to meet those requirements even with transition arrangements,” she said. Hume also spent time raising concerns about the superannuation industry’s inaction relating to fixing its issues relating to cost and poor investment performance as well as financial technology policy initiatives.

Hume positioned herself to the FSC audience as someone who is empathetic to the challenges financial advisers face and who is understanding of the the value quality advice can deliver.

Before entering politics Hume was a senior policy adviser at AustralianSuper where she worked for a little over a year. Hume began her career as a private banker and investment researcher at National Australia Bank before taking business development and senior leadership roles at Rothschild Asset Management and Deutsche Bank.

Hume confirmed the government continues to consult with the industry specifically on time frames for transitional provisions to ensure existing advisers meet the new requirements.

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