ASIC Chair Jeffery Lucy recently addressed the Financial Planning Association to give the Regulator’s Perspective.

He discussed the current issues ASIC was concerned about (including the quality of advice being given to consumers and advisers’ remuneration models) and concluded :

Where conflicts of interest arise because of the remuneration you will receive if your client accepts your recommendation or an association between the recommended financial product and your licensee, this must be clearly disclosed or, in certain situations, avoided completely. This ensures that your client can understand how your advice may have been influenced but, of course, does not eliminate the requirement that the advice must be in the clients’ best interests. Disclosure does not eliminate the need for the advice to be appropriate.