ABSTRACT
The Australian and UK systems, together with the US system to license advisers, parallel each other relatively closely. Thus, they face similar adviser licensing models, and hence challenges with ongoing legislative reforms in their financial advisory sectors. In these three specific countries, the principal institutional third-party affiliates [US financial advisory institutions, US broker-dealer institutions, ‘UK restricted’ advice institutions, UK independent advice institutions and Australian Financial Services licensees] appoint financial advisers to work as their agents [US independent registered investment advisers, US broker-dealer registered representatives, UK independent appointed representatives, UK ‘restricted’ appointed representatives and Australian s923A independent authorised representatives and Australian product-aligned authorised representatives] providing financial product sales recommendations on their principals. Therefore, this chapter compares the legislative reforms in these countries by considering the Australian Future of Financial Advice Reforms, the US Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Reforms and the UK Retail Distribution Reforms. References to the Australian Commonwealth Corporations Act, regulatory guides and explanatory memorandums; the Dodd-Frank Act; and the UK Financial Services Act with the Conduct of Business Source Book [COBS] are discussed. These third-party affiliates and their advisers must register with their respective regulator [US Securities and Exchange Commission, US Financial Industry Regulatory Authority, UK Financial Conduct Authority and Australian Securities and Investments Commission].
