ASIC had ‘regular’ engagement with Levy on QAR

Speaking at the FPA Professionals Congress in Sydney on Thursday, ASIC senior executive leader, Leah Sciacca, said the regulator had “a more formal role” in the Quality of Advice Review.

“Specifically, our work on the Life Insurance Framework Review has been incorporated into the Quality of Advice Review,” Ms Sciacca said.

“We passed on our LIF review results and data to the independent reviewer Michelle Levy and the Treasury Secretariat, and the high-level results from the data collected and the advice reviews were recently published in the Conflicted Remuneration Paper by the review”.

Ms Sciacca added that the regulator also had an ongoing engagement in the review.

“More generally from an ASIC perspective, we've had regular, constructive engagement with Michelle Levy and the Treasury Secretariat. We look forward to the findings and recommendations from the review being handed down next month,” she said.

Ms Sciacca also confirmed that advisers have until 1 July next year to register with the ASIC Financial Services and Credit Panel.

“It is a new requirement and it’s in addition to [the FAR] … The feedback we’ve received is ‘I don’t need to be registered, I’m on the Financial Adviser Register’,” she said.

She also said the regulator would release the dates for next year’s exam as soon as next week.

“We’ll be releasing next year’s dates imminently. They’re just being finalised at this stage so, hopefully, next week we’ll be able to release those,” Ms Sciacca said.