From the always good value Adele Ferguson:
The speculation on Tuesday night was that Cormann could come out as early as this morning outlining the new-look FOFA before the release of another report into the performance of ASIC and the inherent dangers of vertical integration as illustrated in the Commonwealth Bank financial planning scandal.
The talk is that he will reject a recommendation that would have given banks the green light to use their army of tellers to sell bank products and get up front fees and trailing commissions.
There is talk he might go further and introduce regulations that have the power to stamp out inappropriate behaviour.
But he is likely to accept the other recommendations, which include a dilution of the best-interests duty and the removal of the opt-in requirement, which means financial advisers won’t have to seek client approval every two years to charge ongoing fees.
Better but still well short of a cigar.
