What Michelle Levy wants you to know ahead of her final QAR report

But as Ms Levy heads back to her day job, there are a few things she wants advisers to know.

Speaking at the FPA Professionals Congress, Ms Levy said that looking back at what now feels like a lifetime ago — the day she was first appointed the Quality of Advice Review (QAR) reviewer — she can now earnestly say that she misjudged the size of the challenge that lay before her.

“It is a big challenge. I probably didn’t realise how big of a challenge it was,” Ms Levy said.

“When I got the call, I was so excited. I did not think I would get it, because I knew they were speaking to a few people. My initial reaction was, ‘isn’t it an honour to have even been thought of’, and then as I spoke to the then minister Jane Hume, I became more and more excited because I thought this is actually an area I know intimately.

“I know a lot of people ask why it wasn’t a financial planner, why it was a lawyer — I suppose it is a review of the regulatory framework and how it affects the industry, so I think a lawyer was going to be the person that should do that role.”

As for “Why her?” Ms Levy said that while that may have been “a good question”, she feels she was well qualified for the job.

While a multitude of things has surprised her over the past eight months, the one thing that has stood out, she said, is “how personal it is”.

“And I think personal for all of you and personal now for me. And that much has surprised me, just how passionate all of you are and how passionate I am about it and wanting to solve it,” Ms Levy said.

In fact, she said, the task at hand had infiltrated not only her every waking hour but her dreams, too.

“All I can think about is this. I go to bed and I am dreaming about it all night, I’m sort of thinking about it constantly,” Ms Levy said.

And while those movie-like light bulb moments haven’t adorned her experience, what she has come to realise, over time, is that the “law is the wrong way around”.

“A lot of people have complained, almost everybody, about the complexity of the law, its inflexibility, and a lot of people have come with ideas about how we could make it easier to understand, easier to apply,” Ms Levy said.

“The law focuses on what people who give advice have to do, it focuses on the documents they have to provide, the conduct and the processes… Really, we should be focusing and the law should be focusing on what the consumer wants. In your case, what do your clients want? That’s how the law should be, it should reflect what this is actually about, which is helping consumers get good advice.”

Ms Levy is due to present to the government her final report by 16 December and she assured that huge surprises are unlikely as she heads into the final weeks of the review.

“I don’t know when the paper will be released. I hope quickly, but there are not going to be many surprises in there. I’ve been quite open about what I’m recommending,” Ms Levy said.

“I think in the main there is support, I know I have heard that there are some concerns, but I would ask everyone to sort of step back and look at the whole and say, ‘Is it actually good as a whole?’ And if it is, then encourage everyone you know to be saying that.”