Hi David,
Thanks for your question.
Under the Corporations Act 2001 (“the Act”) the ‘providing entity’ of a Statement of Advice can be a licensee, a Corporate Authorised Representative (“CAR”) or an individual authorised representative. Where an authorised representative (whether corporate or individual) provides personal financial product advice, the Statement of Advice must include a statement:
- setting out the name, contact details and AFS licence number of the authorising licensee; and
- a statement that the providing entity of the advice is the authorised representative of the licensee.
Generally, the inclusion of the name and contact details of the licensee and the providing entity, is required. However, in practice, if advice is prepared by the individual authorised representative on behalf of a CAR, the details of the licensee, the CAR, and the individual authorised representative who prepared the SOA are generally included, with either the CAR or individual authorised representative identified as the providing entity.
It is important to keep in mind the requirement for clear, concise and effective disclosure, and the serious penalties that apply if this requirement is not met.
For an example Statement of Advice please see ASIC’s Regulatory Guide 90.
Please feel free to contact our Financial Services Team for further assistance.
Authors: David Court (Partner), Jesse Vermiglio (Senior Lawyer) and Greta Walters (Legal Clerk)
