Treasury releases Quality of Advice Review consultation paper

On Monday, Treasury released a Quality of Advice Review consultation paper that outlines a number of proposals which impact general insurance brokers.

The consultation paper states that the current regulatory framework is a “significant impediment to consumers accessing financial advice” that often prevents advisers from providing quality advice to their clients. Foreshadowing that changes to this regulatory framework will “need to be substantial if financial advice is going to be widely accessible and truly affordable”.

The paper includes proposals relating to the definition of ‘personal advice’ and the regulation of ‘general advice’ as a financial service, as well as disclosure documents such as the Statements of Advice and Financial Services Guides, and the Best Interest Duty and Safe Harbour provisions.

Treasury has yet to release any proposals relating to general insurance commissions, while the review considers the information collected from general insurers and insurance broking firms.

Philip Kewin, NIBA CEO said “We welcome the release of the Quality of Advice Review consultation paper and the consultative approach the review has taken to financial services reform. We are currently reviewing the proposals and assessing the impact they will have on our members and their clients”.

“The report highlights that these proposals are not final recommendations, nor are they complete. We look forward to continuing our engagement with Treasury and the independent reviewer Michelle Levy and will be participating in roundtable discussions next month“, he added.

We will be providing a response to the consultation paper on behalf of members and we encourage members to provide their feedback on these proposals by emailing NIBA’s Policy and Research Manager, Allyssa Hextell at ahextell@niba.com.au by no later than COB Friday 16 September 2022.

Members can view NIBA’s submission to the Quality of Advice Review issues paper on the NIBA website.