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Compliance Monitoring

Advice in the time of Coronavirus: Managing the challenges of social-distance

Advice in the time of Coronavirus: Managing the challenges of social-distance

April 6, 2020

Smarter Compliance. Experienced advisers know that clients most appreciate their adviser’s insight and reassurance when conditions are bad; during periods of market volatility, economic uncertainty and generally bleak sentiment, clients understand the value their adviser offers. Even in respect of COVID-19 and the pandemic’s broader implications and consequences, frequent, clear and empathic communications will, even in the face of uncertainty, help to reassure your clients and secure the sustainability of your personal advice business. We don’t have all the answers, but we do have some suggestions on how you can better manage these challenges.
The lure of technology: Limits, practices and reality.

The lure of technology: Limits, practices and reality.

February 4, 2019

Smarter compliance. For those of us interested in the future of advice (and the far smaller number of us interested in compliance), technology - and, specifically, in regulatory technology (“reg-tech) - is particularly appealing. Well-designed solutions, customised and properly supported, can make advisers and licensees both more efficient and more effective. Better yet, the proper technology can be a source of competitive advantage in a highly regulated industry. This article looks at alternative views, offers seven questions to consider and reminds us that, if we make the wrong calls, technology can be “a good servant but a bad master”.

Reasonable Steps: Licensee obligations and regulatory risk management

November 19, 2018

Smarter Compliance. Section 912A(1)(a) of the Corporations Act requires a financial services licensee to “do all things necessary to ensure that the financial services covered by the licence are provided efficiently, honestly and fairly”. As we’ve seen from the Banking Royal Commission, this is neither verbiage nor aspirational sentiment but a compendious expectation that requires consistent and demonstrable competence, capability, efficiency and integrity. It’s also an obligation that the law expects to apply equally to the Licensee and their representatives. This article moves from the specific case of ASIC v Financial Circle to the reasonable compliance arrangements expected of licensees.
Compliance Reviews: Livin' on a prayer

Compliance Reviews: Livin’ on a prayer

September 3, 2018

“Advisers have to realise that the 80/20 rule applies to Compliance Experts too. Most of them are average at best.” — Phil Alexander, CEO Licensing, Bluewater Financial Advisers lies, damned lies and compliance Assured Support approaches ‘adviser reviews’ differently to most compliance ‘experts’.  We do so because we didn’t need ASIC Report 515 to highlight the deficiencies, inherent compromises and inherent conflicts at the heart of most monitoring and supervision regimes.  That was obvious to us.  Equally obvious, was the fact that Licensees and Advisers focused on the wrong things, and failed to embed professionalism, ethics and fairness at the heart

The rise and rise and rise of WPR Financial Strategists

The rise and rise and rise of WPR Financial Strategists

July 25, 2018

Smarter Compliance. Compliance training doesn’t have to be boring and bureaucratic. This three hour workshop is a case-study exploring the real challenges and issues in financial services. As employees and officers of “WPR Financial Strategists” participants are forced to identify, grapple with and resolve the reality of managing a financial services licensee.
What was and what will be: Let's talk some more about compliance

What was and what will be: Let’s talk some more about compliance

March 10, 2018

With 2018 well under way, ASIC have released their performance assessment for the back half of last year. We previously wrote about ASIC’s 2018 enforcement activity, and we were wondering how your new-year plans are progressing. With the publication of ASIC’s second-half report, we thought it would be a great opportunity to take stock of what else occurred last year. Depending on your perspective, you may find it alarming, depressing or thrilling; in any event, it will to help you assess whether you are, or are likely to, meet their expectations.   Report 586 focused on July to December 2017. In summary,

Best Interests Duty and Adviser Supervision: What AFSLs Need to Evidence

February 25, 2018

AFSLs must do more than review individual advice files. Effective best interests compliance requires systems, supervision, research, training and controls that consistently support client-focused advice.

Before you go, let’s talk about compliance

January 2, 2018

With 2018 rapidly approaching, now is a good time to reflect on ASIC’s 2017 surveillance activity and consider whether, and to what extent, your arrangements would meet, or exceed, their expectations. As a reminder, ASIC published the following performance assessment for January to June 2017.  ASIC Report 536: “ASIC enforcement outcomes: January to June 2017” Yes, my gatekeeper ASIC have always focused their attention on ‘gatekeepers’ but, in the back half of 2017, there appears to be an increased focus on Licensees and their capacity to monitor and supervise their representatives. To some extent, this is entirely predictable, given that

The perils of safe harbours

August 26, 2017

Smarter Compliance. The safe harbour provisions were intended to provide advisers with clarity about how to satisfy their best-interest duty, instead they have compromised it. In practice, checked steps and repeated commitments “to act in the client's best interests” are substituted for any real attempt to act in the clients’ best interests. Licensees, and advisers, obsessively focus on the “safe harbour” provisions, and how to demonstrate how their advice is in the client’s best interests, rather than obsessively focussing on providing advice that is, in fact, in their clients’ best interests. Safety, and better advice, requires advisers to set a

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