AFAs the winners in fee debate
Authorised Financial Advisers (AFAs) look set to benefit from a government rethink on industry fees that could see their annual levy slashed by as much as 80%.
Monday, March 26th 2012, 6:30AM
by Niko Kloeten
AFAs, Registered Financial Advisers (RFAs) and Qualifying Financial Entities (QFEs) will be charged the levies to pay for regulatory costs associated with the Financial Advisers Act and the Financial Markets Authority, but the amount they will each have to pay still hasn't been decided.
The Ministry of Economic Development (MED) has delayed its verdict, which was due by February, after receiving a strong response from the financial services industry, but it appears AFAs will get a better deal than what was originally proposed.
The initial plans in 2010 drew a heated response from AFAs, who would have had to pay close to $2000 each per year in levies.
However, Institute of Financial Advisers president Nigel Tate said the feedback he'd had from the government suggested the final figure would be much lower, with costs spread more broadly across the industry.
"We are expecting individual practitioners' fees to be somewhere in the vicinity of the $250-$400 mark," he said.
"Our recommendation was $250 and I've got the impression we'll be looking at more around $300-$350. I would still be quite comfortable with that as opposed to $1800."
The fee switch is likely to see QFEs pay more than under the original proposal, and a number of QFEs including the big banks have spoken out against this increase in costs in submissions to the MED.
Tate said it was inevitable different parts of the industry would have conflicting views about who should pay the levies and how much they should pay.
"If everyone ends up moderately happy with it then I think they will have done a pretty good job," he said.
The MED said an announcement on the fee structure would be made in the next three months.
Niko Kloeten can be contacted at niko@goodreturns.co.nz
| « Catch-22 for New Zealand QROPS providers | Fine line between 'information' and 'advice' » |
Special Offers
Commenting is closed
|
|
Printable version |
|
Email to a friend |
