Despite members of the risk insurance sector claiming victory over Financial Services and Superannuation Minister Bill Shorten’s turnabout on the government’s position of banning risk commission inside of superannuation, news for the rest of the market isn’t as rosy.
At this year’s Financial Services Council (FSC) Annual Conference, Shorten left little room for compromise when he stated the federal government intended to push ahead with its opt-in reform under the Future of Financial Advice (FOFA) package.
While there was perhaps little surprise that the government planned to stick to its guns on the reform, some still cling to the hope Shorten will deliver a slightly relaxed reform in the much awaited draft legislation.
When IFA’s sister publication, InvestorDaily, asked Shorten what stage the draft legislation was at, he would not be drawn on specifics.
Last week, the FPA made what perhaps will be a last ditch attempt to change Shorten’s mind on opt-in.
The FPA used market volatility and comments by ASIC as reasons for the government to cut the reform from its agenda.
“The proposed opt-in requirement could put at risk planners’ ability to provide a critical response during crisis situations and market uncertainty, such as all Australians are faced with now,” FPA chief executive Mark Rantall said.
“This week’s volatility is a perfect illustration of the dangers of opt-in.”
In this week’s magazine, platform providers have tackled the FOFA debate, in particular their concerns and ideas around opt-in.
For some the reform is onerous and unnecessary, however, interestingly not all believed this to be the case.
Unsurprisingly, one of the top concerns for providers was the lack of certainty from there not already being draft legislation on opt-in.
While many providers said they were willing to build opt-in into their existing platforms, the lack of clarity around what they needed to develop had created a new level of confusion.
