As the key regulator for the Future of Financial Advice reforms, ASIC has announced how it will manage implementation.

Assuming the FoFA Bills are passed by the Senate before 1 July 2012, ASIC aims to release regulatory guidance in June 2012 on a number of topics including its powers, the best interests duty, giving information and advice (including scaled advice) and conflicted remuneration.

AFS Licensees which choose to comply with FoFA reforms from 1 July 2012 (and before 30 June 2013) will need to notify ASIC. ASIC will develop a process for notifying it.

ASIC will take a facilitative compliance approach for FoFA for the first 12 months: provided industry participants are making reasonable efforts to comply with the FoFA reforms, ASIC will adopt a measured approach where inadvertent breaches result from a misunderstanding of requirements or systems issues. However, where ASIC finds deliberate and systemic breaches ASIC will take stronger regulatory action.

All AFS licence holders must comply with the FoFA reforms from 1 July 2013. Therefore, ASIC will take a facilitative approach to compliance until 1 July 2014.