The Advisers Association (TAA) has launched a push for industry self-regulation given the substantial changes that have taken place in the last two decades. 

CEO Neil Macdonald says the business landscape has changed significantly since the Financial Services Reform Act 2001 commenced in March 2002. 

“Our industry and our associations have matured, we are now a profession and professions self-regulate,” Mr Macdonald said. 

“The role of associations could include the setting and supervision of not only education standards, but also ethical standards. Associations could very effectively triage and address problem advisers and maintain appropriate professional standards.” 

TAA says the Joint Associations Working Group (JAWG) is proof that financial advice associations can work together to advance the profession, and therefore the time for self-regulation is right. 

“JAWG includes key associations from across the industry, representing many different types of financial advisers and many with quite different views, yet it is able to arrive at enough commonality to produce, for example, joint submissions to Treasury on the future of the profession,” Mr Macdonald said. 

“Since forming, some of the member associations have merged, so increasingly, we have a common voice.” 

JAWG’s members include TAA, the Financial Services Council, Institute of Public Accountants and Boutique Financial Planning Principals Association Inc. JAWG collectively represents more than 90% of advisers on the Financial Advisers Register (FAR) and the majority of financial services firms. 

Mr Macdonald says both the Quality of Advice Review and the Australian Law Reform Commission recognised that regulation and legislation have built up over the years, resulting in an overly complicated complaint process for advice, without any material benefits to consumers, and significantly increased the cost for advice. 

He said the regulatory and legislative changes also didn’t meet consumer expectations or immediate requirements.