Levy and Abood to dissect government’s QAR response on free ifa webcast

ifa is bringing back its free, live webcast to host an in-depth discussion of the government’s response to the Quality of Advice Review (QAR) on 12 July at 11am.

In her first public appearance since Financial Services Minister Stephen Jones unveiled the government’s response, Ms Levy will join the chief executive officer of the Financial Advice Association Australia (FAAA), Sarah Abood, and host Maja Garaca Djurdjevic, to evaluate what the government has delivered so far.

On 13 June, Minister Jones unveiled the government’s anticipated response to the QAR and pledged his support for 14 of the 22 recommendations made by Ms Levy.

The minister said the government’s legislative response will be divided into three streams, with stream one set to prioritise recommendations alleviating red tape pressures on advisers. Among them are the removal of fee disclosure statements, the replacement of statements of advice (SOAs) with “fit-for-purpose” advice records, and the elimination of the safe harbour steps from the best interests duty.

Stream two of the reforms — dubbed the “expanding access to retirement income advice” stream — will see superannuation funds expand their provision of advice, while stream three promises to further scrutinise the remaining eight recommendations. Among the latter are recommendation one proposing a broader definition of personal advice, and recommendation four pushing for the introduction of a good advice duty.

Ms Levy previously told ABC News that she is somewhat disappointed, particularly regarding the government’s treatment of the eight remaining recommendations which she believes are the “core recommendations”.

“It’s somewhat disappointing because I think the eight are the most important. They are the ones that will really help make advice more accessible to more people,” she said.

Ms Abood, on the other hand, has mostly welcomed Mr Jones’ response, especially the prioritisation of quick wins.

“When you look at the way that the response is structured, what they are referring to as the stream one recommendations are very much the quick wins that we have been asking for and we think it’s a very sensible response,” Ms Abood told ifa at the time.

“We think it will have an impact for advisers and has the potential to lower the cost of advice, and that’s really pleasing.”

Since her initial response, Ms Abood has engaged in discussion with the minister, advocating for the speedy adoption of these recommendations.

To learn more about ifa’s webcast and to register for free, click here.