ASIC acknowledges royal assent of the Treasury Laws Amendments (Delivering Better Financial Outcomes and Other Measures) Act 2024 (DBFO Act).
Royal assent of the DBFO Act marks an important step in advancing reforms to financial advice regulation as part of the Commonwealth Government’s response to recommendations 7, 8, 10, 13.1–13.5 and 13.7–13.9 of the Quality of Advice Review.
Reforms under DBFO Act include:
clarifying the legal basis in the Superannuation Industry (Supervision) Act 1993 for superannuation trustees to charge individual members for financial advice from their superannuation account, and clarifying associated tax consequences under the Income Tax Assessment Act 1997,
streamlining ongoing fee renewal and consent requirements, including removing the requirement to provide a fee disclosure statement,
providing more flexibility in how Financial Services Guide (FSG) requirements can be met,
simplifying and clarifying the provisions governing conflicted remuneration, and
introducing new standardised consent requirements for life risk insurance, general insurance and consumer credit insurance commissions.
Industry should be aware of the reforms, including transitional periods if applicable, and have, or be in the process of updating, systems and processes as required.
ASIC has registered ASIC Corporations (Amendment) Instrument 2024/554 which makes consequential amendments to ASIC instruments to reflect the changes to FSG requirements. ASIC has also amended condition 52 of Pro Forma 209 Australian financial services licence conditions (PF 209) to ensure technology neutrality in FSG record keeping requirements. Changes to PF 209 will apply only to entities applying for an Australian financial services licence going forward.
Over the coming months, ASIC will update regulatory guidance impacted by the DBFO Act. For more information about the reforms under the DBFO Act, including a summary of its transitional timeframes, and regulatory guidance that ASIC anticipates updating, visit Delivering Better Financial Outcomes (DBFO) package.
