Licensee head predicts 1000 advisers to depart by year end
The advice industry will likely see the departure of another 1000 advisers by the start of next year when the deadline to have an approved degree kicks in, WT Financial Group managing director Keith Cullen believes. Without action, including reforming the education standard, the sector will continue to stagnate with accessibility to advice only getting worse.
June 10, 2025
ART warns ASIC on private market evergreen funds, regulatory duplication
The $330 billion Australian Retirement Trust has used its previously confidential submission to ASIC to warn against duplication of an already “comprehensive” private markets regulatory framework while calling out the rapidly growing evergreen fund sector as potentially requiring more oversight.
June 10, 2025
Trump highlights the value of advice
Investors watched as their superannuation and pension account balances plunged due to the impact of US President Donald Trump's sweeping tariffs announced as part of his so-called "Liberation Day". Fitzpatricks Group CEO Andrew Fairweather writes while markets have largely recovered, it's cataclysmic events like this that bring the value of advice to the fore.
June 06, 2025
Advice going through ‘secular change’ and this matters for licensees
CoreData has spent the last 13 years researching what advisers value in their licensee, but the veteran research firm believes this year is different. Ahead of the Professional Planner Licensee Summit later this month, the firm is looking to the planning community to help explicate a secular change in the advice ecosystem that has seen practices become the gatekeepers of the value chain.
June 05, 2025
Retirement advice through super will be far better than no advice
Super funds have the responsibility and are well-positioned to assist their members who would otherwise receive no advice as they approach and enter retirement. The Conexus Institute’s David Bell and Geoff Warren argue that outcomes for super fund members will be improved by the provision of financial advice by their fund compared to them not receiving advice at all.
June 05, 2025
ASIC ‘accelerating’ private credit oversight
The corporate regulator will be “accelerating” its work on private credit and will pay close attention to retail distribution following its consultation on public and private markets. After receiving almost 90 submissions, with most released publicly on Wednesday morning, ASIC Commissioner Simone Constant said the asset class can be good for the economy “if done well”.
June 04, 2025
DBFO draft bill lacks ‘simplification and certainty’
Michael Vrisakis, one of Australia’s leading financial services lawyers, has warned the Albanese government’s draft legislation on financial advice reform retains an overly prescriptive regulatory regime and does not act on the conclusions of the Quality of Advice Review in a meaningful way.
June 03, 2025
‘Who cares’: Higher average client fees don’t guarantee profitability
The average client fees provide an ineffective barometer of profitability and success, as higher fees don’t naturally mean bigger profit margins. Peloton Partners principal Rob Jones pointed to an example of two firms – one with an average fee of $38,000 and another with $3300 – with the latter being more profitable.
June 03, 2025
Australians urge government action on financial advice reform
As the industry awaits confirmation the Albanese government will complete its financial advice reform agenda, new research from Colonial First State finds more than two-thirds of Australians want to see advice become more accessible. But consumer representative Super Consumers Australia believes findings of the research are “confusing causation and correlation”.
June 02, 2025
ASIC finds managed funds compliance is ‘lacking’
ASIC has identified widespread poor practice from managed investment schemes, with investigations of potential breaches of compliance plans expected to come. The review found some plans didn’t mention the Design and Distribution Obligations, suggesting updates haven’t been done since 2021 at the latest.
June 02, 2025
