Do you believe that your FAP is taking an overly conservative approach to meeting its regulatory obligations?
- Yes (55%)
- No (40%)
- Not sure (4%)
Loading ...Our latest poll is asking if advisers believe their Financial Advice Provider, whether that be themselves directly or another entity, is taking an overly conservative approach to meeting the current regulatory obligations.
Our poll arises after FMA chief, Samantha Barrass, told an industry audience the authority believes some FAPs take what seems to the regulator to be “…overly conservative approaches to meeting their regulatory obligations.”(See: FAP Approach to Compliance ‘Overly Conservative’)
At an event hosted by the FSC, Barrass highlighted the issue within the context of the FMA’s focus in 2025 on what its compliance mandates are actually achieving.
…the FMA will want to understand the reasons for this conservative approach particularly to check that business models are not being skewed by an unnecessarily cautious approach…
She told the event the FMA will want to understand the reasons for this conservative approach “…particularly to check that business models are not being skewed by an unnecessarily cautious approach to compliance thereby creating friction and restricting the availability of advice.
Barrass said that in these cases, their feedback “…isn’t focused on ‘doing more compliance’ but working with firms to understand the roadblocks and to rethink how they are approaching their decisions for achieving the overall purpose of the financial advice regime.”
So, is your own FAP being unnecessarily cautious?
There may be quite valid reasons for erring on the side of caution – perhaps FAPs are wary of applying too much of their own interpretation on what adhering to the still young regulatory regime actually means for themselves and for their advisers.
Tell us what you think and we’ll report back next week…