Beginning of the end for tough PI insurance market
Class actions and regulatory pressure will keep the professional indemnity insurance market tough for another two to three years, consultants say, but a smattering of new market entrants may hint at relief for advisers down the line.
March 17, 2021
Three regulatory must-haves for an advice investment service
Financial advisers will need to provide evidence of three critical elements if strategic investment advice goes under the regulatory microscope, Neil Younger writes.
March 16, 2021
Departing riskies face halved valuations by delaying book sales
Many insurance advisers are expected to leave the industry rather than sit and pass the adviser exam before the end of the year, but brokers report there are almost no risk books on the market. A flood of these businesses in the final quarter of the year could cut valuation multiples in half, they warn.
March 15, 2021
ASIC to avoid unnecessary enforcement: Chester
With its new enforcement powers ASIC's Karen Chester said she wants the regulator to focus its radar on harmful misconduct rather than harm-free process breaches.
March 12, 2021
Code of Ethics obligations an afterthought for licensees
Licensees were given responsibility to monitor advisers’ adherence to the statutory Code of Ethics while ASIC has regulatory oversight which applies to all registered financial advisers giving advice to retail clients from January 1, 2020.
March 11, 2021
Advisers hindering consumer access to managed funds: Deloitte
Commissioned by ASIC, the consultancy’s interim report into competition within the managed funds market says advisers and other intermediaries can help perform due diligence on products, but can also create “suboptimal outcomes” for consumers.
March 10, 2021
Industry rails against ‘kick in the guts’ ASIC adviser levy
It’s rare that the industry speaks as one voice, but the latest increase in adviser levies has united stakeholders against a model that seems to punish compliant, independent advisers for the sins of outgoing institutional ones.
March 09, 2021
Stop pretending there’s an answer to the conflicts issue
All forms of remuneration are potentially conflicted so the ongoing FFS V FUM debate is a wasteful distraction, says adviser Maurice Nistico. Figure out what works best for your business and your clients and ignore the dogma.
March 08, 2021
ASIC’s gaze to fall on smaller advice groups: CoreData
With the banks gone ASIC is sure to focus more on smaller advice groups, Andrew Inwood said. The speed – and eventual cost – of that might have a lot to do with the regulator's new leadership team, he reckons.
March 05, 2021
‘Future client’ explained: Inside the heads of the emerging affluent
Income protection, cash flow management and portfolio diversification are important areas this emerging segment of client which has the highest household income of any other group wants advice on, a new study shows.
March 04, 2021
Bert goes into bat for insurance commissions
Less than an hour after Labor’s Stephen Jones said insurance commissions were “a problem”, Liberal MP and ex-planner Bert van Manen called them a “perfectly valid form of remuneration”. Despite his endorsement, financial services minister Jane Hume says the government will also wait on the LIF review's findings before making a call on the issue.
March 03, 2021
