FOFA assessment will take 'many years'

CFA Society Sydney vice president Anthony Serhan said it is important that Australia monitors FOFA’s progress with particular regard to lessons from other jurisdictions while also contributing Australia's learning to the issue.

“CFA Societies Australia endorses any action that improves access to high quality financial advice benefiting retail investors,” Mr Serhan said.

“We also encourage and endorse any reforms intended to improve the trust and confidence of Australian retail investors in the financial planning sector.

“In Australia, the industry has been making headway in reducing the level of mis-selling.

“This is through increased fee disclosures and the banning of commissions, including volume-based incentives.”

CFA Societies in Australia and New Zealand today launched Investor First Week to encourage investors to demand higher standards of ethical conduct from the financial services industry.

“CFA Societies Australia is an advocate for greater investor education and targeted adviser training to truly raise the quality and standard of advice,” he said.

The Investor First Week aims to encourage financial service providers including banks, asset managers and financial advisers to commit to fairness, improved understanding and personal integrity.

“CFA Societies Australia is pleased that ASIC is taking steps to improve the quality of advice offered to retail clients by enhancing the minimum training standards required under RG146,” Mr Serhan said.

“In particular, we hope that ASIC includes education and training on ethics, as proposed in its consultation paper last year.

“This has not been part of the standards before and represents an important step forward,” he said.