‘Misunderstanding’ surrounding ASIC’s single disciplinary body

Despite some criticism about the 31-member panel - which sees the FSCP established within ASIC as the single disciplinary body for financial advisers – the Financial Planning Association of Australia head Sarah Abood said it “makes a lot of sense” on the latest episode of the ifa Show.

“We've seen the panel members, that list released recently, and I think what I like about that is there are representatives across that panel from the broad sectors of the industry,” Ms Abood said.

“I think there's maybe been a bit of misunderstanding that the reason that panel is so broad is so that we can make sure that people who understand the particular issue are the ones that are reviewing it.

“So, we're not going to see a situation where someone from a timeshare apartment background is going to be sitting in judgement on a comprehensive advice financial adviser. Pretty confident that's not going to happen, but I think it's great news that we have that, and I certainly see some potential positives coming from that.”

Last week, ASIC announced it was seeking feedback on the FSCP and its role, including when to convene a sitting panel and publicising decisions of sitting panels.

Feedback can be submitted now and closes at 5pm on Monday, 28 March.

Listen to the full episode with Ms Abood here.

Neil Griffiths

Neil is the Deputy Editor of the wealth titles, including ifa and InvestorDaily.

Neil is also the host of the ifa show podcast.