15 July 2014

CHOICE has expressed disappointment at today’s vote in the Senate to uphold the Federal Government’s wind-back of consumer financial advice protections.
The consumer group says the additional changes announced before today’s vote will do nothing to prevent the roll-back of key consumer protections.
 
This roll-back includes watering down the duty of financial advisers to act in the best interests of their clients, and removing the requirement for advisers to obtain the agreement of consumers in order to keep charging them fees.
 
“Today, the Senate has failed the best interests of consumers, and failed to learn the lessons of repeated financial advice scandals and collapses, where Australians have lost their life savings,” says CHOICE CEO Alan Kirkland.
 
“As we have seen over recent weeks, this is an issue that everyday Australians are passionate about, with more than 11,000 consumers joining our petition to the Senate ahead of today’s vote.
 
“Those consumers, and the many more that rely on trustworthy, expert financial advice to secure their retirement incomes, will feel let down by today’s outcome,” Mr Kirkland says.