REGULATION LEGAL By Susan Edmunds
Small adviser firms’ voices ‘lost’ in review MBIE says it tried to tackle the concerns of independent operators when it rewrote advice legislation but industry commentators are unconvinced.
T
he review of the Financial Advisers Act has been resoundingly a win for the big end of town, says veteran financial adviser Murray Weatherston. Weatherston, one of the founding members of SiFA, has been a strong voice for independent advisers through the review process. But he was sceptical about whether that had been heard at official levels – and whether it was worth fighting now in a last-ditch attempt for change to the Financial Services Legislation Amendment Bill.
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“The people doing the review didn’t actually have much experience in the financial sector, let alone financial advice, and I just think they’ve been captured completely by the big end of town,” he said. Weatherston said the review would make it easier for banks, insurance companies and big institutions to sell their products but would make life harder for smaller operators. He said big providers were being offered the chance to sell their products under the guise of offering “advice”. But James Hartley, Ministry of Business,
Innovation and Employment manager of financial markets policy refuted his claims. “We heard from many small businesses and industry associations that the current regime is inequitable to small providers. For example, QFEs are currently able to coordinate their licensing and compliance activities at the firm level, while others are not, and QFEs and RFAs are not currently held to the same standards of conduct and client-care as AFAs,” he said. “Many features of the new regime are a direct response to these concerns. For example, all firms will be able to be licensed
