Stories that made headlines in 2021

What a year 2021 has been. From a muted sense of optimism, to despair amid months of lockdown, to a fresh new global threat in the form of omicron, and hordes of industry-related news (mostly bad), 2021 is a year many of us would rather forget.

But before we farewell the year that has been, let’s have a quick look at the news that made headline on the ifa this year.  

5. An industry exhausted

Adviser numbers have rapidly dwindled this year and news regarding the shrinking industry has littered headlines.

In this particular piece, from May this year, Adviser Ratings is cited as predicting the industry would number just 13,000 advisers by the end of 2023.

While disappointing for the industry, Lifespan compliance and general manager Eugene Serravalle said at the time that the current market dynamics represented “a great opportunity” for the advisers who would remain post-2026.

Read more here.

4. FASEA commits to amendments

News of FASEA’s commitment to consulting on the contentious Standard 3 of its Code of Ethics, before it is wound up at the end of 2021, was applauded by the industry in June.

FASEA unveiled its move in response to questions on notice from Liberal senator Slade Brockman, who blasted Standard 3 of the code for amounting to “a complete ban on all conflicts of interest”.

“Will FASEA seek to amend Standard 3 before you cease operations?” Senator Brockman asked.

While the standards authority took issue with Senator Brockman’s interpretation of Standard 3, it said that “FASEA has plans to consult on Standard 3 of the code this year”.

“[FASEA] will continue to work on enhancing and refining it before operations cease,” the body said.

Check this story out here.

3. Bickering platforms

For a change, an advice platform being punished for an alleged “substantial copyright breach” snared the reads on the ifa in July.

Astute Wealth Advice, creators of engagement platform AstuteWheel, alleged mid-year that Lumiant’s “Lumiant Confidence Questionnaire” used “substantially the same words as almost all of the text in AstuteWheel’s five-minute ‘Health Check’”, which launched in 2011.

“It is extremely disappointing to discover that a financial services company appears to have copied our material,” Astute Wealth managing director, Hans Egger, said at the time.

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2. Royal commission never fails to impress

The government’s second tranche of royal commission legislation – dealing with annual renewals, disclosure of lack of independence and restrictions on deducting advice fees from super – passing Parliament was the second most-visited story on the ifa this year.

Although the bill was listed as non-controversial legislation, the ifa understands that following advocacy from the advice sector, crossbench senator Rex Patrick had proposed some last-minute amendments to the bill. However, Mr Patrick’s amendments were eventually withdrawn and the bill passed the upper house without issue.

Read more here.

1. Corporate regulator tops the charts

Stories of ASIC targeting wealth firms always yield a large following and this story wasn’t an exception.

Back in February, ASIC announced it had taken action against Mortgage & General Financial Services because it had “failed to demonstrate it had the competence and resources to provide financial services and credit activities as required under its licences”.

The company had also failed to lodge its reports for the 2017, 2018 and 2019 financial years.

Full story available here.