Day: 5 August 2019

As noted in our previous article, a statement of advice is the main document that records advice provided to retail clients. The advice process Individuals obtain information about financial products in a variety of ways and in a variety of settings. An individual may talk to friends and family, their lawyer, their accountant and others who they trust when considering a financial product. Where advice is sought from a financial advisor, a financial services guide (FSG) will typically be provided to a client in the first meeting between the client and advisor. A statement of advice (SoA) will then either set out the advice or record the advice that was given. If the statement of advice is not itself the means by which advice is provided, then it must be…

Financial advice is regulated under the Corporations Act 2001 (Cth) as financial product advice. The provision of financial product advice is a financial service and a financial planner or adviser must hold an Australian Financial Services Licence (AFS Licence) or operate under an exemption to this licensing requirement. Financial advisors and AFS Licence holders are subject to general licensing obligations including relating to conduct and disclosure as well as additional obligations for financial advisers who provide financial product advice to retail clients. In this post, we introduce the types of advice given, the topics typically covered by advice and the regulatory framework. Types of financial product advice Under the Corporations Act there are two types of financial product advice. These are: personal advice which is defined as financial product advice…