AFSL regime stifling client-centric advice: FPA

Speaking on a panel discussion organised by software provider Advice Intelligence, FPA head of policy and government Ben Marshan said the current challenges facing goals-based advice were driven in part “by the fact the licensing regime is the way the licensing regime is”.

Mr Marshan said the transition to goals-based advice is “not working at the moment” because licensees are “telling the planners what they can and can’t do and how they can or can’t do” it, but a shift to an individual licensing model can address this problem.

“If the financial planner is individually licensed, if the financial planner is individually responsible for what they’re doing and the advice they’re providing and the pressure goes from them up and says this is what I need, this is how I need to provide advice, these are the tools I need to provide advice, this is how I’m going to help my clients achieve their goals and objectives,” he said.

Mr Marshan added that the industry is already heading towards a shift in the way advisers are licensed.

“I think we’re getting to a tipping point where the ship is going to turn over and individual financial planners are going to take control of that, and certainly many of them are starting to do that,” he said.