ASIC updates guidance for fee disclosure statements

In an announcement yesterday, ASIC said RG 245 Fee disclosure statements has been updated to reflect regulatory and legislative changes.

The regulator had initially adopted no-action positions to extend flexibility to advisers who were unable to provide an FDS to existing clients within a period of 30 days.

Now, RG 245 has been updated to clarify that the three limited no-action positions are no longer available.

“These no-action positions were taken to assist the industry to make a smooth transition to meeting the FDS obligations, which have now been in force for some time,” the statement said.

Other changes reflect technical amendments to the FOFA legislation since the previous version of the RG 245 was released, the statement said.

The fee disclosure statement (FDS) obligations require advice providers who have an ongoing fee arrangement with a retail client to provide the client with an annual FDS setting out information about the fees paid by the client, the services provided to the client and the services that the client was entitled to receive.

“This obligation is designed to help clients determine whether the ongoing fees they are paying are proportionate to the services they have received, or were entitled to receive,” ASIC said.

In January 2013, the FPA and AFA had announced their support for the no-action clause.