Regulating Financial Advice for Retirement – The Recent Australian Reforms

This paper discusses reforms to regulation of financial advice, including advice for retirement, made in Australia since 2012 – the FoFA changes, the introduction of the ASIC adviser register, and the recent enactment of new competency and professionalism requirements for individual advisers. It suggests that the ‘best interests’ reforms may be more consistent with a requirement of fairness, than a true fiduciary standard. It argues that the competency requirements to be phased in over the next seven years need to emphasise the skills that advisers require to utilise advances in technology for retirement planning.