Speaking to ifa sister publication The Adviser, Mr Ripoll said the original FOFA legislation was designed to protect consumers from fraudulent advisers.
Mr Ripoll chaired the 2009 Parliamentary Joint Committee on Corporations and Financial Services that culminated in FOFA.
He said the government’s decision to “dismantle” the FOFA legislation means consumers are no longer protected.
“It is completely at odds with what the industry is saying, completely at odds with what consumers need and want, and it is completely at odds with problems and issues we see within the financial services industry including [fraud],” Mr Ripoll said.
“It doesn’t surprise me that there is more activity in that area of people fraudulently representing themselves and more problems arising out of the financial services sector.
“To have someone who is not qualified and [pretending] to be somebody they are not, is a really big problem,” he said. “So what the government has done is just bad for consumers and it is bad for advisers themselves.”
Mr Ripoll also said the government must bring consumer protection to the “core of their legislative platform” to assist in restoring trust in the advice industry.
“The bottom line is, if you are a consumer you would be a little bit more worried and concerned because frankly the reputation of financial advisers unfortunately – because of some bad behaviour and bad practices particularly in the banks – means there is no trust in the industry,” Mr Ripoll said.
“To restore trust you have got to make sure [they] get the right people so you don’t want people fraudulently representing themselves to be something that they are not.
“You want the big banks and advisory firms to be doing the right thing by their clients,” Mr Ripoll said.
What nonsense. Ripoll speaks as if FOFA was entirely dismantled, which is blatantly incorrect as most of the key consumer protections remain in place. Now he’s tipping fraudulent advisor behaviour like a bookie at the track. Really, why does anyone listen to this politician anymore?
Thanks for the unwarranted and baseless accusations Mr Ripoll. Yes we wouldn’t want to have an industry full of mal-intent financial planners who end up suspended from the industry like other MP’s of recent times. As mentioned by many of my IFA comrades in these comments, there are and will always continue to be cowboys in ANY industry despite all efforts and/or legislation to remove them, YOURS INCLUDED. A better incentive should be to reward advisers who have a clean record and claims history, but that would be counterintuitive to Labors FOFA agenda wouldn’t it?
I don’t trust politicians, can we legislate for that please?
It just shows that as the chairman of PJC he has absolutely no idea that we have to work had to meet clients expectations and limitations, bare everything on the table as still get called a fraudulent profession. What a joke to put someone in charge of the committee. He obviously had little contact if at all with any of the people on the ground doing the work. How do politicians really sleep at night. Disappointing Ripole – thats why you are not in government anymore.
Rippoll is biased and always will be. Another of the Bowen/Shorten ilk who simply want to mandate that ISA funds have all of Australia’s retirement wealth at their disposal (despite the rort claims from someone who was in the know, Costa).
Aside from the wodespread corruption that is becoming uncovered, of as much concern is the unqualified advice being handed out from the ISA and Union Representatives.
The answer is simple; level the playing field between this group and FP’s, both who are responsible for a large proportion of Australia’s wealth.
To have someone who is not qualified and [pretending] to be somebody they are not, is a really big problem
Is this comment about the seemingly unrepresentative and unqualified ISA trustees and their incredible product flog? Of course not, their motives are apparently beyond reproach. Everyone else has the potential to be a fraudster, though.
More scare mongering. There are bad apples in every profession, even politics.
More of the rip offs have come from the investments that have been set up to rob clients of their money and advisers of their reputations.
When will morons like Ripoll workout that legislation doesnt stop fraud or theft because because the frauds and thieves dont care about legislation.Ripoll also forgot to include Industry funds who are just as bad with their hiding of fees and self serving advice.
Thank you Mr Ripoll, that should really assist with the public’s confidence in seeking advice.
The answer then is achieving core competencies with specialist designations based on specific areas of specialization. Isn’t that where we are going anyway? I fail to see the points Mr Ripoll is making as no where in the changes to FOFA are any of the aspects towards increased competency challenged or rolled back. The roll backs center around enabling business models to cope with the changes. One must remember that Mr Ripoll like most who enter this debate has an established bias based on entrenched views which are often neither rational, balanced nor reasonable.
It would not matter what legislation you put in place there will always be someone who will try to rip off clients. It doesn’t matter what industry, accounting,legal,real estate, you name it, there are bad apples everywhere. Mr.Ripoll thinks every Adviser is a crook, 99% are hard working and always put clients first.