Royal commission must look beyond advice: FPA

Speaking to ifa, FPA chief executive Dante de Gori said the royal commission, which the government announced it would establish on Thursday, will inevitably cause disruption to the industry given the breadth of the draft terms of reference.

“The threat of a royal commission has been going on for a long time, and the FPA has long held the position that it will probably disrupt current reform efforts,” he said.

“It’s going to be a negative for the industry unfortunately.”

Mr de Gori noted that the financial advice industry has been the subject of 54 separate inquiries and reviews since 2009, and that the royal commission should instead focus on areas of the financial services sector that haven’t yet been examined.

“I hope it will focus on areas previous commissions haven’t addressed. Financial planning has been put under the spotlight and responded with reforms, and government should let those be implemented rather than revisit them,” he said.

Mr de Gori noted the draft terms of reference specify that the royal commission is not required to investigate matters “to the extent that to do so might prejudice, compromise or duplicate another inquiry or investigation”, which could mean reforms already in the process of implementation may be left alone.

“The government seems to agree that the commission should focus on these unexplored areas, based off the terms of reference,” Mr de Gori said.

“We just want to ensure Australians continue to have access to high quality financial planning, and I’m hoping the good work financial planners are doing will continue. I encourage all planners to keep doing their job to the best of their ability.”