KiwiSaver advice debate not necessarily done and dusted

The Code Committee, which administers the Code of Professional Conduct for Financial Advisers, last week released a revised draft of a new version of the code. Several changes had been made to the initial version that was put out for public consultation.

It had been suggested that the committee was paying lip service to the banks with its suggestion that people who were not AFAs could step into the KiwiSaver space.

But committee chairman David Ireland said the committee thought it was a good idea to test the waters on the idea. “We needed to assess something to see what options thee were available to us to try to expand the pool of advisers able to advice in this space. There are limited tools in the regulatory framework, we felt we would have been remiss not to have consulted on that option… the feedback wasn’t 100% opposed to it.”

Some were in favour of the idea and recognised the benefits of it, he said. “In the end, with the arguments raised against it and the possible consequences, it was not something we felt comfortable pursuing at this point.”