Delivering Better Financial Outcomes

Your hub for the latest updates and member guidance on the DBFO reforms

Background

Following 10 months of consultation, independent reviewer, Michelle Levy, handed the Quality of Advice Review (QAR) final report to government on 16 December 2022. The government responded to 14 of the 22 recommendations made in the QAR report, consulting on a draft roadmap for implementation in June 2023.

With a focus on improving access to financial advice, the ‘Delivering Better Financial Outcomes’ package of reforms implements the government’s final QAR roadmap in two tranches.

DBFO Tranche 1 implementation

DBFO Tranche 1 includes the following changes which will commence at different times.

removal of the Fee Disclosure Statement (FDS) obligations

streamlined and consolidated client consents for ongoing fee arrangements and the deduction of advice fees from a product

ministerial power to approve and mandated standardised client consent forms

flexibility to provide FSG information via website disclosure

clarity on the conflicted remuneration provisions, including for the issue of financial products where advice has not been provided in the previous 12 months

legal certainty for the payment of advice fees from a member’s superannuation account and clarity on the associated tax consequences

obtaining client consent for the payment of life insurance commissions

The Bill to implement Tranche 1 was passed by the Parliament on 4 July 2024 and received Royal Assent on 9 July 2024.

ASIC has provided initial guidance on the DBFO measures and has indicated more regulatory guidance will be made available before the following transition arrangements commence for these changes.

Transition arrangements

Member Guidance

We have developed a series of guidance videos to assist you in understanding these changes, how they interact with each other, and the transition arrangements for each measure.

Click a video below to be redirected to the FAAA Portal to view.