In 2011, ASIC will be focusing on the following financial advice themes:
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aggregator licensees;
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quality of advice;
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advice relating to complex products such as capital guaranteed products; and
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the use of managed discretionary accounts (MDAs).
The attached update details the types of issues we will be looking at, and why we consider them important.
ASIC Commissioner Greg Medcraft said, ‘We want to flag to the financial advice industry the types of issues we will be looking at in 2011. By drawing attention to these issues we hope to help licensees avoid pitfalls and ensure quality financial advice is being provided to consumers’.
‘Where consumers have received, or are at risk of receiving, inappropriate advice we will step in and take tough regulatory action. Poor quality advice cannot be tolerated. It is not just the individual client that suffers loss, but the reputation of the industry as a whole is damaged as consumers lose confidence in the advice process.’