The federal government's intra-fund advice regulation should also be applied to financial advisers, a number of industry participants have said.
Under the intra-fund advice regulation, superannuation funds are allowed to provide limited financial advice to members.
Intra-fund advice, however, should be universally available as a service option, according to a number of industry participants at a recent roundtable organised by Investor Weekly's sister publication IFA.
BT Wrap head Craig Lawrenson said not everyone needed full comprehensive advice during all stages of their life.
"You want to make sure Australians are getting advice at the appropriate level. We absolutely recognise that not everyone needs full comprehensive advice all the time," Lawrenson said.
"Logically you would say that intra-fund advice should be applied to the whole industry and there should be a level playing field in the giving of intra-fund advice."
Advisers were already providing advice consistent with intra-fund advice, Snowball Group managing director Tony McDonald said.
"We have telephone advisers who are effectively giving something which is tantamount to intra-fund advice. The licensing regime and the structure behind that regime should be exactly the same for them as it for someone who's attached to a product," McDonald said.
"The consumer can then make an informed choice. It worries us that they're still getting blurred."
IMAP chair Toby Potter said the intra-fund advice relief was a product of the unindented consequences of regulation.
"The other consequence I sense of the changes in the regulation of advice is we're likely to see much less advice provided to the kind of middle or lower market," Potter said.
Research from Industry Super Network has found that 50,000 members of superannuation funds are now accessing intra-fund advice since it was available last year.
The research found that within 15 years nearly 1 million people would access simple financial advice from their super fund every year.
