FPA members skip fees opt-in every two years

The Financial Planning Association of Australia (FPA) has had its FPA Professional Ongoing Fees Code approved by ASIC so that members are relieved from the opt-in requirement. 

The opt-in was introduced as part of the Future of Financial Advice (FoFA) reforms, and meant that an Australian financial services (AFS) licensee or financial adviser receiving fees under an ongoing fee arrangement must provide clients a written renewal notice every two years. 

The exemption for FPA members means that those people are bound by the ASIC-approved code of conduct, and the necessity for the opt-in is thereby altered. The ongoing fees must be renewed, but this arrangement is more flexible than every two years, being required every three years. 

This is a first for ASIC in approving a code in any form, and it has the power to revoke it at any time.