Substitute title for ‘qualified adviser’ yet to be determined

ifa understands that the Financial Services Minister has not suggested “qualified advisers” should be known as “product advisers”, as was previously reported by The Australian Financial Review.

Although the minister has sought input from the industry on alternative names, ifa understands a substitute title has yet to be determined.

Speaking to ifa on the matter of the “qualified adviser” blunder, senior manager of government relations and policy at the Financial Advice Association Australia (FAAA), George John said: “We haven’t had anything confirmed by Mr Jones’ office, but he did reiterate at the FAAA roadshow last week that he would change the name of the term ‘qualified adviser’.”

“We have been asked for our views. We’ve provided some views, obviously, I don’t think that we’re expecting any published changes to what that term will be until we see that tranche two exposure draft which we’re still expecting mid-year,” John said.

He assured that the FAAA is applying “every bit of pressure” on the government to spur on the release of the tranche two draft legislation.

“We do know that tranche two is going to be the substantial package of reform for financial advice, and we are encouraging everyone across government to move ahead with that legislation as soon as possible.”

Earlier this week, responding to a separate inquiry into the Quality of Advice Review (QAR) delays, the minister told ifa: “The government is focused on improving the quality and affordability of financial advice by cutting red tape on financial advisers that offers no protections for consumers.

“Legislation is being developed through 2024 to reform statements of advice and remove the safe harbour steps which will significantly drive down costs for financial advisers.”

Additionally, Jones joined the Financial Service Council’s (FSC) post-budget webcast where he shared that he wants to “get this done” before May next year and that he wants to focus his “love and attention” on doing that.

Back in March, ifa learnt that Treasury officials have proposed training provided by institutional licensees as the desired minimum education requirement for employees of superannuation funds, banks, and insurers.

At the time, Treasury was said to be hosting roundtables to debate the specificities of various parts of the government’s response to the QAR, including the idea of “qualified advisers”.

While Minister Jones earlier floated the possibility of a diploma as the minimum requirement for the new class of advisers, in March it was suggested that this diploma could be one issued by the institution employing the “qualified adviser”.