Marisa Broome, Paul Moran, Danielle Press: How to regulate advice: A collaborative approach

This year provides the advice community with unique headwinds. The Code of Ethics, educational standards and regulatory changes mean that practices need to think of new ways to cover the cost of providing quality advice. Add to this frothy practice valuations, a global pandemic and risk of a global recession and it makes for an ominous twelve months to come. This session explores the threats faced by the profession and offers potential
solutions for principals, advisers and regulators alike.

SPEAKERS
Marisa Broome, principal, Wealth Advice
Paul Moran, director, Moran Partners Financial Planning
Danielle Press, commissioner, ASIC
Moderator: Matthew Smith, director, retail content, Conexus Financial

Key Takeaways

• ASIC’s Danielle Press noted that scaled advice should play a crucial role in the industry; she questioned whether licensees and their compliance divisions are playing it too safe to the detriment of advisers and their clients.
• Press said ASIC may need to address the disparity between the compliance standards the regulator set and the application of these standards by the advice community, which may involve changing “some of the settings”, she said. If ASIC’s advice isn’t clear, she said, “then maybe we need to look at our guidance”.
• Wealth Advice’s Marisa Broome and Moran Partners Financial Planning’s each had five minutes to raise their concerns with how the industry was regulated.
• Broome asked for specific guidance around opt-in to incorporate technology and adding ethics into RG146. Moran suggested more specific guidance was the key so there is no ambiguity about what is expected of practitioners.