The focus of ASIC's shadow shopping research will not be an auditing exercise of Australia's financial planning sector, but on good quality of advice across all business models.
ASIC senior executive leader for consumers, advisers and retail investors Delia Rickard said suggestions the corporate regulator's proposed research into retirement advice was only about monitoring the industry was far off the mark.
"Our focus on this is creating good pictures of good quality of advice. Obviously if we find something that is absolutely shocking and terrible we might follow up and look further at that particular adviser, but that is not our focus and that is not our driver in all of this," Rickard said.
As well as full service financial advice being included in the research, it is believed to include the provision of intra-fund advice.
When directly asked if intra-fund advice would be on ASIC's radar, Rickard was not forthcoming though she did give a strong indication that advice models such as intra-fund would be include in the research.
"Retirement advice isn't included in RG200. Our project is looking at all business models in terms of provision of retirement advice," she said.
She said unlike ASIC's previous shadow shopping research, this exercise did not intend to highlight the problems in the sector.
"The FOFA [Future of Financial Advice] reforms are responding to those problems. So there is really no point in doing a shadow shopping right now that seeks to re-highlight problems that people are well aware of and that are being addressed," she said.
"So we've deliberately said this is not designed to be a name and shame sort of thing. This is designed to be a positive exercise working with consumers, understanding their experience in getting advice, what their needs are, working with the industry and the experts about what good-quality advice looks like.
"To really put in place some solid foundation stones that really ensure good-quality advice in the retirement space is provided and the combination of this combined with the FOFA reforms, which are obviously critical, will really help build that quality of advice going forward."
She said the shadow shopping research was part of a broader sweep of work from the corporate regulator and would ask industry associations and others to nominate people for its planned expert reference group.
ASIC's decision to start a new shadow shopping exercise within the advisory market was prompted by the increasing number of baby boomers set to retire.
"We're really at a tipping point and we know that about 20 per cent are in the de-accumulation stage at the moment and in a decade that is predicted to be 40 per cent," she said.
ASIC expects to release its final research on the shadow shopping in the first quarter of 2012.
