Levy ‘very disappointed’ in government’s slow response to QAR

Michelle Levy has expressed her disappointment regarding the federal government’s delayed response to her recommendations from the Quality of Advice Review (QAR).

Speaking on a live ifa webcast earlier today, Ms Levy said that she was “very disappointed” and “a bit puzzled” with how the government and Financial Services Minister Stephen Jones have reacted since she delivered the QAR report in mid-December last year.

“I think the recommendations have had a lot of support, and they’ve had a lot of support from people who don’t necessarily always agree on things, which I think is very telling” she said.

“The recommendations are really good for consumers, and they will help the whole sector help their customers, their clients, their members.”

Ms Levy said that the 22 recommendations outlined in her 267-page QAR report, which was made public in February, were good and needed to be implemented.

“We hear a lot about the difficulties people are facing on paying mortgages, saving for homes, with inflation, and the government’s got a lot of pressure on its budget, to increase JobSeeker, and all of those things,” she said.

“I think these are changes that could be made, which would allow the financial institutions to actually make a real difference to their customers and to help them. We should give them the opportunity. So yeah, I am disappointed.”

According to Ms Levy, advisers should keep two key ideas in mind when thinking about the QAR.

“One, this is about your clients and it’s about people who need advice, so think about the big picture,” she said.

“Secondly, it’s actually good for advisers. This will help you do your jobs much more easily in a way that your clients want you to do. It will allow you to think about, ‘How can I best help my client? What do they need?’, and do your job as a professional.”

Additionally, Ms Levy argued that advisers should forget about financial institutions being able to give more advice.

“They are not your competitors. The whole ecosystem, at every layer, there are roles that should be played by people across the financial services sector, and this will help you all do that,” she said.

“So be enthusiastic, get behind it, think about how much it will help you help your clients.”

If you missed out and would like to tune in to the webcast, click here and register for free.

Jon Bragg

Jon Bragg is a journalist for Momentum Media's Investor Daily, nestegg and ifa. He enjoys writing about a wide variety of financial topics and issues and exploring the many implications they have on all aspects of life.