Financial planners are in a good position in terms of Australian financial services licensing because they only need a similar kind of licence to the one they had in the past, says Pauline Vamos, Australian Securities and Investments Commission Director Licensing and Business Operations. She says most planners are too busy concentrating on their licence applications to be too bothered with the negative publicity that has plagued them for the past couple of months.

Ms Vamos told Sunrise Exchange News the majority of financial planners are focusing heavily on providing the best possible advice and trying to be “squeaky clean in terms of compliance”. She admitted, however, that some planners have submitted “woeful applications”.

That’s in line with her comments last month that a large percentage of financial planners were failing to meet basic disclosure requirements.