Regulation - Azzet - Business news, investments companies & executives

Sign inJoin Now

Regulation

Regulation
SUPER NATION: Canberra asked to share compo burden
Super Nation is a fortnightly column that examines, explains and analyses key issues in one of Australia's largest, fastest-growing and most important industries: superannuation. At a time when the Australian Government is on the back foot for introducing and watering down controversial tax changes in the face of growing criticism, it is being asked to contribute funds to an out-of-control compensation scheme. The call for Canberra to support the Compensation Scheme of Last Resort (CSLR) came from the Joint Associations Working Group (JAWG), on behalf of organisations representing financial advisers, accountants, stockbrokers, licensees, self-managed superannuation fund (SMSF) professionals, investors and financial services firms. This is relevant for the retirement savings sector because the JAWG membership includes bodies representing super funds that are worried they may have to kick into a scheme their members cannot benefit from. It is also significant as one of the few direct calls to put the onus back on taxpayers to help meet the costs of the scheme, which bails out victims of financial misconduct, albeit one made a month after the six-week consultation period ended. Although submissions about proposed refor
Regulation
SUPER NATION: The compensation funding divide
Super Nation is a fortnightly column that examines, explains and analyses key issues in one of Australia's largest, fastest-growing and most important industries: superannuation. If there is a widespread consensus across the super industry about the Compensation Scheme of Last Resort (CSLR), it is that they cannot agree on who should pay for it, as the cost continues to balloon. That is clear from the submissions to Treasury about proposals in the Compensation Scheme of Last Resort (CSLR): Reform options to support ongoing sustainability consultation paper. Few challenge the need for a compensation system for victims of financial misconduct but a key point of contention is how to ensure those who cause investor losses contribute to the pool that funds it. They show broad agreement among organisations representing super funds and others in the financial services and advice industries that the scheme is under real strain but also highlight sharply diverging views on solutions and funding. This is a familiar pattern in the A$4.4 trillion (US$3.1 trillion) retirement savings sector where profit-to-member (P2M) funds often have different perspectives on important issues to for-profit retail and self-managed super funds (
Regulation
ASIC probes sale of Shield, First Guardian-linked firm
The Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) has stepped in to to prevent an ASX-listed financial services firm from escaping potential liabilities to investors who lost A$1 billion-plus in the collapse of the Shield and First Guardian master funds. Australia’s corporate regulator has taken legal action over Sequoia Financial Group’s planned sale of Interprac Financial Planning Pty Ltd to Conquest Investment Partners Pty Ltd, which was announced in March 2026 for $50,000. ASIC has commenced Federal Court proceedings seeking the appointment of a receiver to investigate and report on whether the sale was bona fide, fair and reasonable and to report on Interprac’s financial position and its solvency. ASIC was concerned that the sale may adversely affect the interests of creditors, including Interprac’s liabilities arising from complaints to the Australian Financial Complaints Authority (AFCA) in relation to Shield and First Guardian, given that Sequoia may cease to guarantee Interprac’s debts upon completion of the sale to Conquest. AFCA has made two lead determinations against Interprac, and another 911 complaints are open in relation to advice provided by its representatives to invest in the collapsed fun
Regulation
Fed up fundies forced to fill huge hybrid hole
When the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority (APRA) described feedback about a new proposal to phase out bank hybrid securities as “generally supportive”, it clearly was not thinking about institutional investors Geoff Wilson or Christopher Joye. Wilson, the veteran fund manager whose opposition to a Labor Party proposal to change the treatment of franking credits helped torpedo the party’s chance of winning the 2019 national election, was blunt in an opinion piece. “APRA’s decision to abolish bank hybrids defies logic and is an attack on Australian retail investors and the franking credit system,” the Wilson Asset Management (WAM) founder thundered in this Australian Financial Review (AFR) newspaper article. The regulator’s proposal in December 2024 to erase a A$40 billion (US$28 billion)-plus market announced has forced investors to find alternative investments to replace securities that will go the way of the securities dinosaurs. However, opposition to the plan did not have the same political significance as the franking credits controversy, with Labor sweeping to power with a large majority in the election held in May 2025. Although the plan to eliminate Additional Tier 1 (AT1) capital instruments does n
Regulation
Australian financial advisers support education reforms
Financial advisers have welcomed reforms to their education requirements proposed by the Australian Government as the nation deals with a severe shortage of advisers in the wake of an exodus over the last seven years. The Financial Advice Association of Australia (FAAA) and Financial Services Council (FSC) backed consultation on the reforms announced by Assistant Treasurer and Minister for Financial Services, Daniel Mulino. He said the proposed standard would require prospective advisers to hold any Bachelor’s degree or higher, meet minimum study requirements in finance, economics or accounting and complete mandatory financial advice subjects covering ethics, legal and regulatory obligations, consumer behaviour and financial advice fundamentals. This compares with the current requirement to hold an approved financial advice Bachelor degree or higher covering 11 core knowledge areas including three bridging units and technical competency areas. The current standard has been criticised as complex, lacking flexibility and ineffective in supporting a sustainable pipeline of new financial advisers entering the profession. “These reforms ensure continuing robust professional standards for advisers, including requirements

Regulation
CGT discount back in Canberra’s crosshairs
It’s no secret that the Albanese Labor government has been eyeing a cut to Australia’s once sacrosanct 50% capital gains tax (CGT) discount on property owned for over 12 months. Given that previous federal governments have – after some deliberation – been too scared to fall foul of the electorate by tampering with CGT – you may well ask why it’s now back on the drawing board? In case you hadn’t heard, a Senate inquiry is currently examining the CGT discount, and a final report is now due by 17 March 2026. With 90% of benefits flowing to the top 20% of income earners, Canberra’s policy wonks will tell you that slashing the CGT discount will reduce inequality embedded in the current tax structure.Budget cash grabBut putting the moral high ground aside for a moment, modelling by the Grattan Institute suggests reducing the discount to 25% could raise about $6.5 billion annually. This explains why Treasurer Jim Chalmers has got the CGT tax in his sights; The 50% CGT discount is projected to cost the federal budget approximately $247 billion in forgone revenue over the next decade. Industry groups and some economists are vocal in their cautioning of unintended consequences associated with taking a scalpel to the CGT tax d
Regulation
ASIC: Investigations into collapses far from done
The Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) has vowed to keep investigating the A$1 billion-plus collapse of the First Guardian and Shield master funds. In a speech, Commissioner Alan Kirkland outlined the action ASIC had taken, including freezing assets, winding up companies, appointing receivers, preventing travel, banning financial advisers, and cancelling Australian Financial Services licenses. He said the corporate regulator had 12 court cases underway against 21 defendants, including four super fund trustees, in connection with its investigations. Defendants included Equity Trustees, Macquarie Investment Management, Diversa and Netwealth, Interprac Financial Planning and SQM Research. “But we are far from done. There are more cases to come,” Kirkland said in a speech to the Professional Planner Advice Policy Summit in Canberra. He said more than 11,000 ordinary people trying to set themselves up for retirement invested more than $1 billion in Shield and First Guardian. “That’s why addressing the conduct that led to what we’ve seen there is one of ASIC’s biggest priorities,” he said. Kirkland said when he spoke at the same event last year, he was limited in his remarks about ASIC’s work on
Regulation
Greens pressure Labor on CGT discount policy
While there are no immediate threats to Australia’s capital gains tax (CGT) discounts - which halve the profit investors must report as taxable income when selling assets held for over 12 months – there are moves afoot to see this change. There’s growing speculation that the Albanese-led Labor government could end up kowtowing to mounting pressure to have the CGT discount reduced if not scrapped entirely. The NSW Treasury, the Grattan Institute, the Australian Council of Trade Unions, together with various other trade unions and advocacy groups, have actively pushed for the 50% CGT discount to be cut or abolished, particularly in relation to investment properties. However, it’s the repeated calls by the Greens for the 50% CGT discount to be scrapped that are becoming harder for Labor to dismiss. Labor has long held the position that CGT discounts disproportionately benefit those wealthy enough to hold appreciating assets, and a report by Oxfam Australia tends to support this view. Oxfam Australia recently revealed that nearly 50% of the CGT discount goes to 24,000 people who earned over $1 million in 2022-2023. It’s understood that the top 10% of income earners currently receive more than two-thirds of all CGT
Regulation
New min quals worsen Australia’s adviser shortage
Experience may indeed be a great teacher, but as many financial advisers are discovering it accounts for nothing, with a sizable cohort – many with decades under their belts advising clients – failing to meet new qualification criteria. Based on Rainmaker’s analysis of ASIC’s Financial Adviser Register (FAR), over a fifth (458) of the 2000 who hadn’t met the new qualifications standard by the end of 2025, have ceased their authorisation since the beginning of December.Adviser numbers virtually halved in six yearsFollowing a massive exodus of professionals over the last seven years, the total number of advisers on the register has fallen from around 28,900 in early 2019 and is currently struggling to stay above 15,000. One of the key reasons for the financial adviser diaspora from the profession is the more onerous education and compliance criteria. In addition to a higher barrier to entry, new requirements have made those closer to retirement question whether they wish to jump through hoops simply to remain in a profession they may have been in before many new entrants to the sector were born. Effective 1 January, new qualification standards mean advisers can no longer provide personal advice if they have not completed