Below is a summary of the important updates and changes to be aware of so you can continue to meet your compliance obligations.  If you have any questions relating to this update, or any other compliance-related matter, please contact Geoff Byrnes.

Quality of Advice Review update

As we move into the holiday season and the new Quality of Advice Review (QOAR) report is about to be announced, it’s a good time to reflect on what is best for you, your clients, and your business.

The Quality of Advice Review is examining Australian’s access to high quality, affordable and accessible financial advice.  The terms of reference for the QOAR were released on 11 March 2022 and a report is to be provided to the Government by 16 December 2022.

So, how will this affect you, your clients, and your business?

Good question. It will depend on what the Government decides and whether any recommendations pass through the legislation. From past experience, it will take some dialogue and legislation to wind the industry back before 2003 (where we were all considered evil and the banks and other industry heads were all ‘flogging’ a product and making a lot of money!).

Now that the industry has been cleaned up, it leaves one wondering if we’ve come full circle and heading back to these times. Banks providing Roboadvice? No SoAs or RoAs? Removal of General Advice?  Who knows with this one – Michelle Levy has changed her mind.

From my perspective, the industry appears to have turned a corner in the right direction.  We need to grow the industry and make it sustainable. But if they achieve what the current considerations are, we will be heading down a path that will ultimately begin another Royal Commission.

Once we know more, we’ll provide another update with our thoughts and future expectation. In the meantime, let’s band together as an industry, improve the services we deliver and remain focussed on the client.

Changes to Downsizer Superannuation Contribution eligibility

Legislation reducing the eligibility age to make a downsizer super contribution from 60 to 55 has passed and will come into effective on 1 January 2023.

All other eligibility requirements for downsizer contributions remain unchanged.

Geoff Byrnes

Geoff ensures that our financial advisers follow their compliance duties and legislation so that our clients’ best interests are always at the heart of what we do.  Read his full bio here.