The Governments much anticipated FOFA regulations were registered today and provide significant relief for benefits provided to employees and representatives of product issuers who provide general advice They also expressly allow bonuses to be linked to successful product sales providing the bonus ...

Since the 1996 Wallis Inquiry disclosure has been at the heart of the regulatory philosophy for the retail financial services sector in Australia Under the Financial System Inquirys terms of reference the Inquiry will refresh the philosophy principles and objectives underpinning the development of a ...

Today ASIC released a report outlining the shortcomings in the disclosure of fees and costs for superannuation and managed investment products While everyone may not like what it says and for some it may be too little too late the more detailed discussion of what the law requires may be helpful ...

With financial services providers already taking advantage of the possibilities created by a new tide of internet meta data we need regulators and a regulatory regime that see the opportunities implicit in the change and not only the risks ...

The Australian Financial Complaints Authority AFCA the new one-stop-shop for resolving financial complaints has had a very busy first six months of operation ...

APRA and ASIC issued a joint letter to all RSE licensees entitled 'Oversight of fees charged to members' superannuation accounts' in early April, in response to the 'fee for no advice' issue that attracted so much attention in the Royal Commission ...

Treasury released a paper seeking feedback on a framework for Comprehensive Income Products for Retirement. It will permit trustees to offer members on a 'soft default' basis 'mass-customised, composite retirement income products' and, to encourage trustees ...

The ASIC Enforcement Review Taskforce members and terms of reference have been announced The terms of reference are very broad and come as no surprise with an emphasis on evaluating the adequacy of ASICs enforcement toolkit We analyse the key themes that are likely to emerge ...

The Federal Government has released an exposure draft of new superannuation legislation and associated regulations which refine the current rules on portfolio holdings disclosure and product dashboards for superannuation funds The changes in the portfolio holdings disclosure area particularly ...

Earlier today Treasury released exposure draft regulations for Innovative Superannuation Income Streams They set out income stream standards that will be relevant for products such as deferred annuities and group self-annuitised products The Allens Superannuation team reports ...