Regulation prepares advisers for ‘new normal’

Financial advisers may not have enjoyed the transition into a regulated environment but the experience will prepare them for future changes, a financial services lawyer says.

Tuesday, January 22nd 2013, 7:47AM

by Niko Kloeten

DLA Phillips Fox partner Tracey Cross said the Financial Advisers Act was a "new world" for financial advisers that had come at a cost.

But she said it had taught them important lessons about how to deal with regulation and interact with regulators.

"The Financial Advisers Act has put them in a new world; it gets them in a different mind-set. They might not like having to deal with it but they know it's not going away and knowing the approach of the regulator is always a benefit."

Cross said if advisers hadn't gone through all those changes they might be "star struck" by new regimes, such as the Anti-Money Laundering legislation that kicks in later this year.

"At least they are getting an idea how change is implemented and how it's not always clear from the start; maybe there's some advantage to having gone through that," she said.

"The other side is the amount of change they've had to deal with and the costs associated with that."

Adviser coach Tony Vidler said he didn’t think there would be a slowing down of the regulatory process this year.

But he said near-constant change was something advisers should expect now they are part of a regulated industry.

“We’ve got all consumed with compliance and regulation for the last couple of years but it’s just brought us into the space every other industry works in,” he said.

“We are in the new normal. The time for peering over our shoulders wondering whether our templates are right should have passed.”

Niko Kloeten can be contacted at niko@goodreturns.co.nz

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