Welcome to the website for the Future of Financial Advice (FOFA) reforms. FOFA became mandatory on 1 July 2013 (and was voluntary from 1 July 2012).
The objectives of FOFA are to improve the trust and confidence of Australian retail investors in the financial services sector and ensure the availability, accessibility and affordability of high quality financial advice.
On 20 December 2013, the Government announced a package of changes to FOFA to reduce compliance costs and regulatory burden on the financial services sector. The changes are aimed to ensure the integrity of the financial advice framework was maintained whilst delivering a system that offered affordable and accessible financial advice to the Australian community. On 20 June 2014, the Government announced its package of changes to FOFA.
The Government's amendments were implemented through the Corporations Amendment (Streamlining Future of Financial Advice) Regulation 2014. The Regulation commenced on 1 July 2014.
On 19 November 2014, the Senate disallowed the Corporations Amendment (Streamlining Future of Financial Advice) Regulation 2014.
The Government has since remade—with bipartisan support—a number of time-sensitive elements of the disallowed regulation. These changes were implemented through the Corporations Amendment (Revising Future of Financial Advice) Regulation 2014 and the Corporations Amendment (Financial Advice) Regulation 2015. The Regulations commenced on 16 December 2014 and 1 July 2015 respectively.
The FOFA Bill (Corporations Amendment (Financial Advice Measures)) has now passed the Parliament. The FOFA Bill was introduced into the House of Representatives on 19 March 2014 and was passed, with amendments by the Senate on 24 November 2015. The House of Representatives passed the amended Bill on 1 March 2016. The Bill received Royal Assent on 18 March 2016.