Inside Money: Why financial advisers need monitors

Commerce Minister Simon Power. Photo / Mark Mitchell

And just in time for Spring the Code of Professional Conduct for Authorised Financial Advisers (AFA) has blossomed.

The Code, as readers will be aware, will set benchmark behaviour rules for financial advisers who deal in 'complex' products and/or offer 'personalised' financial advisory services.

Yesterday, the Commissioner for Financial Advisers, David Mayhew, gave his final sign-off on the draft Code - all that remains is for Commerce Minister Simon Power to wave his magic signature over it and it will come into being.

After such a long and torturous process, the predominant emotion in the financial services industry is probably relief that it's all over.

Yet some concerns remain. The final version of the Code is much less ambitious in its scope than the original document. Now far fewer 'financial advisers' will be caught by the Code and its overarching legislation than was envisaged three years ago.

This is in part a concession to the reality of policing such a numerous and diverse bunch of players but it also reflects the successful lobbying of financial institutions that wanted to limit their exposure to the new law and keep expenses down.

Many financial advisers who operate outside the control of large institutions argue that the legislation, and the Code, will reduce the public's access to independent advice as compliance costs will be unfairly distributed on these smaller businesses.

Some go even further and say that the government has a secret agenda to squash the little guys and impose a rigid system of standardised financial advice on the country in order to control risk. This might be paranoia, but there's also a sense in some quarters that the Securities Commission will focus its policing efforts on the smaller advisory firms - at first anyway.

On the same day as Mayhew signed off on the Code, the Securities Commission advertised four new jobs for the purposes of "Monitoring Financial Advisers".