Quality of Advice Review: HSF makes submission on financial advice reform

In August 2022, the Quality of Advice Review released its Proposals Paper setting out a range of proposals to improve the accessibility and affordability of financial advice. Our team has made a formal submission to the Quality of Advice Review. While we strongly support the majority of the proposals outlined in the Proposals Paper, there are … Read more

Anti-hawking in financial services: Some observations on multi-product discounts

For some time now, the issue of whether a sales representative can cross-position different insurance policies or financial products through the mechanism of a multi-policy or multi-product discount has been somewhat of a vexed issue – to say the least. In this context, we are referring to a scenario where a client makes an enquiry … Read more

Financial services in the social media age: The rise and risks of ‘finfluencers’

During the COVID-19 pandemic, a record number of first-time traders flocked to the market, which propelled financial influencers (‘finfluencers’) into ASIC’s spotlight and squarely placed them within ASIC’s enforcement remit. The rise of finfluencers is unsurprising in the social media and digital age. As financial services and financial product distribution become more challenging and complex … Read more

FSR Outlook 2022: Anticipating Change, Being Prepared

Our Financial Services Regulatory team surveys the regulatory landscape for 2022 and identifies themes that we expect to be at the core of regulatory priorities globally over the next 12 months.  On 7 December 2021, HSF published its annual Financial Services Regulatory Outlook report surveying the global regulatory landscape for 2022 which addressed the following … Read more

Some regulatory roadblocks for new Retirement Income Covenant

Alert to all industry and retail superannuation funds – compliance with the proposed retirement income covenant (RIC) faces two major regulatory roadblocks: personal advice and anti-hawking. There is an urgent need for regulatory relief or reform in relation to this. There are two major regulatory problems that are thrown up by the recently proposed RIC, to … Read more

FSR GPS: ‘BECOMING AWARE’ OF A SIGNIFICANT DEALING UNDER DDO

This edition of our ‘FSR GPS’ (Guidelines, Principles and Strategies) series provides some insights on the requirement to report significant dealings to ASIC under the upcoming DDO regime, which is due to come into effect on 5 October 2021. Under the DDO regime, a product issuer has an obligation to report a ‘significant dealing’ to … Read more

LIF commissions under review in 2021-2022

The Final Report of the Financial Services Royal Commission called for a follow-up review into the ethics and standards in the financial services sector. In response to this, on 21 April 2021 at the FSC Life Insurance Summit, Financial Services Minister Jane Hume announced that the Government will commission a review of the financial advice … Read more