QAR ‘quick wins are not going to get us very far’, says Levy

Speaking on a live ifa webcast, the head of the Quality of Advice Review (QAR), Michelle Levy, urged the industry to get behind her 267-page final report, noting that “the quick wins are not going to get us very far”.

Asked to share her thoughts on the latest open letter the Joint Associations Working Group (JAWG) penned to Financial Services Minister Stephen Jones regarding the QAR, Ms Levy said: “Let’s not compromise.”

“We can tinker with the law as it’s being drafted. We can tinker with things at the end. Let’s get the whole thing out though happening. Let’s do the experiment,” she said.

Ms Levy explained that she fears focusing on “quick wins” would come at the expense of “everything else”.

“This is good. Let’s try it. Knowing there’s a whole lot of consumer protection there,” the QAR review lead and partner at Allens said.

The JAWG’s open letter indicated that the associations did not want to see the QAR forgotten and asked for a number of quick wins including the removal of statements of advice in their current form and the introduction of a “standard fee consent form”.

The recommendations placed in the further consideration category included the revised definition of personal advice and the introduction of the good advice duty, alongside a number of other recommendations deemed more controversial.

Ms Levy also expressed her disappointment regarding the federal government’s delayed response to her recommendations during ifa’s webcast.

“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.”

Asked about the key message she wanted to convey to advisers, Ms Levy said there are two ideas she would encourage them to keep in mind.

“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.”

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