Synchron GM Compliance Phil Osborne has dismissed a recent call by some industry commentators to replace Statement of Advice, the description of documents provided to clients, with a new name.

He says the suggestion is “simply playing with semantics” and will not resolve the pressing challenge facing the industry.

“Discussions around what to call the advice document don’t actually address the core issue, which is the unnecessary length and complexity of Statements of Advice,” Mr Osborne said.

“Calls for a ‘Letter of Advice’, while highlighting the issue, is looking in the wrong place for the cause of the problem.”

He says Synchron believes the solution is in fact far simpler than a name change.

“We can either take years going through the process to discuss and legislate and change the name of the document, or we can act today and choose to follow what the Corporations Act already requires us to do, and that is to have [a statement of advice] that is, ‘worded and presented in a clear, concise and effective manner’.”

Mr Osborne says blaming the disclosure regime also misses the mark.

“Regulatory Guide 175 is clear when talking about disclosure and the need to be clear, concise and effective, directly in keeping with its counterpart in the legislation,” he said. “While everyone is very quick to point fingers at legislation and the regulator, that isn’t where the blame lies.

“The work that [the Australian Securities and Investments Commission] has done recently on advice documents as part of their affordable advice project has highlighted that they don’t believe long documents are in the best interests of the client either, regardless of the disclosure regime.”