ASIC chair Greg Medcraft has given an indication as to how the new licensing arrangements for accountants servicing self-managed superannuation fund clients might work.
“A possible approach would be to place a condition on a licence that will restrict the licensee to advising only at what they call the class-of-product level,” Medcraft told delegates at the 2012 Self-Managed Super Fund Professionals’ Association of Australia National Conference.
He pointed out the ability of practitioners to be granted a licence of this nature would depend on the level of experience they had.
“At the class-of-product level, accountants with the relative experience could provide advice on the following: firstly, SMSFs, including recommending an SMSF if it’s in the client’s best interest; superannuation, broadly at the class-of-product level; general insurance quotes broadly and life insurance quotes within a client’s super fund at class-of-product level; and then finally, basic deposit products at class-of-product level,” Medcraft explained.
“In relation to other topics such as investments accountants could get a broader AFSL (Australian financial services license) as long as they can obviously demonstrate the ability to meet our licensing requirements,” he said.
“We would obviously assess any new licence application on whether the applicant meets the relevant experience requirements.”
However the type of licence described above may not be sufficient for accountants who want to provide advice on switching superannuation funds or pensions, Medcraft said.
“If a person wanted to provide advice on switching or specific superannuation products, then they would actually have to have a fuller licence,” he said.
