What has been holding up the adviser registration process?

Part of the Hayne Royal Commission recommendations was to add a new registration process for advisers.  You might wonder why, given that we already had a Financial Adviser Register.  Well this registration obligation contains more, including a fit and proper declaration.

The primary hold up was a legislative change that the Government needed to get through first.  The complication was that the Treasury Laws Amendment (2023 Measures No. 1) Bill 2023 also contained other stuff, including changes to franking credits and reforms in the TPB space. The Bill has been in the Parliament since February.  It finally passed today after the Government managed to get the support of the cross bench in the Senate yesterday, through agreeing to a number of amendments.

One of those amendments, which was put through by the Greens, limited who can sit on the TPB Board and introduced a breach reporting regime for tax practitioners (including a reporting of other practitioners obligation, just like financial advisers).  The Parliament is very hot on issues that can be linked to the PwC scandal.  The Government pushed this through without consultation.  There are a number of very unhappy groups, and rightly so; legislative change should be based upon broad consultation and a careful considered process.  That was certainly not the case with these amendments.

Anyway the path is now clear for ASIC to push forward with the registration process for financial advisers.