The coalition and the FPA are on the same path regarding the role of advice despite the Shadow Minister for Finance refusing to support a ban on commissions to financial advisers, the association's chief has said.
"The Coalition wouldn't want more regulation and I think that was his [Shadow Minister for Finance Joe Hockey's] focus," FPA chief executive Jo-Anne Bloch said.
"His focus was no banning, as in no regulatory response, but he certainly supported what the FPA is doing and he certainly supported the need for a fiduciary responsibility which infers the fact that you can't take a commission.
"So I think what he is saying is that the Coalition is going to adopt a different approach, or at least an approach that speaks to the role and function of advice rather than simply one issue relating to advice. So I think the coalition is very much on the same track as the FPA."
On Friday, Shadow Minister for Finance Joe Hockey said the Federal Opposition will not support the banning of adviser commission payments.
"The Liberal party will not support the banning of commissions. We will not do that," Hockey told FPA National Conference delegates.
Hockey said he understood the issue of commissions was a difficult area. "This is a difficult area to go in, I understand that, and I recognise the good work the FPA has done in relation to this," Hockey said.
"There is a trend away from commissions. This is where financial planners become part of the profession and to become part of a profession does require a higher level of educational standards - I know you've been working on that."
The Coalition was opposed to secret commissions, he said.
