Quality of Advice Review: Adviser Service Fee FAQs

Tranche 1 of the Quality of Advice Review reforms introduces amendments to the Corporations Act 2001 and the Superannuation Industry (Supervision) Act 1993 to:

• clarify when a superannuation trustee can deduct advice fees from a member’s account, 
• streamline consent processes for ongoing fee arrangements; and 
• enable the provision of a mandatory industry form (not yet released) that can be used to manage fee arrangements across multiple accounts and account providers. 

We have updated our adviser service fee (ASF) consent forms in line with new legislative requirements, which take effect on 10 January 2025. These changes are a result of tranche 1 of the Quality of Advice Review reforms. 

For FirstChoice advisers, this means that from 10 January 2025, the new ASF consent form(s) must be used for all new arrangements and for all ongoing fee renewals with an anniversary date on or after 10 January 2025. The new forms will be available on the website from 9 January 2025.  

For FirstWrap advisers, this means that from 10 January 2025, the updated ongoing consent form must be used for all new arrangements and for all renewals with an anniversary date on or after 10 January 2025. The new form will be available on the FirstWrap platform from 9 January 2025. 

For CFS Edge advisers, this means that from 10 January 2025, the digital experience and pre-populated application forms will be updated to be compliant with the new legislative requirements. Later in January 2025, we’re introducing pre-populated forms for ASF charged after onboarding. In the meantime, for offline client consent post onboarding, the new ASF consent form(s) must be used for all new arrangements and for all ongoing fee renewals with an anniversary date on or after 10 January 2025. The new forms will be available on the website.

• The requirement to provide a Fee Disclosure Statement (FDS) will be removed 
• A description of services will be required for super/pension ongoing fee arrangements  
• The ‘anniversary date’ (also known as the ‘reference date’) is no longer static and has been replaced with a ‘reference date’, which can be set to any date up to a maximum of 12 months after the arrangement was entered into, or for existing arrangements, the previous reference date; and 
• The fee renewal window has increased to 210 days, being 60 days before the reference date and 150 days after. 

The new rules apply to all new arrangements for all fee types (ongoing, fixed term and one-off) from 10 January 2025. For existing ongoing arrangements, a transition periods applies. This is described in detail below. 

No, existing fixed term fees will be unaffected. At the completion of the fixed term fee arrangement, any new fixed term arrangement will need to be use the updated ASF consent forms. 

Under the old legislation, the anniversary date for ongoing fee arrangements was fixed at 12 months from when the adviser and client entered into the arrangement. This date started the 120-day renewal period.  

The reference date operates very similarly to the current anniversary date however, it has increased flexibility. Like the anniversary date, the reference date initiates the renewal process for ongoing arrangements. For new arrangements, it can be set to any date up to a maximum of 12 months from the date the arrangement was entered into (the current anniversary date).  

To further increase flexibility, the renewal window has also changed to allow consent to be obtained anytime between 60 days before and 150 days after the reference date.  

At each renewal, a new reference date must be specified and can be up to a maximum of 12 months from the current reference date. 

We are maintaining our current suite of ASF consent forms. We will maintain separate forms per fee type (fixed term, one-off and ongoing) and account. We have updated these to comply with the new legislative requirements. 

When an industry form is released, we will align to this process to remove duplication and allow for a consolidated form per client across all products, accounts and account providers. 

New forms will only be accepted from 10 January 2025. 

FirstChoice 

• ASF fixed term consent form 
• ASF one-off consent form 
• ASF ongoing consent form

CFS Edge 

• Adviser fee consent form
• One-off advice fee consent form

FirstWrap 

• ASF ongoing consent form will be available on the platform from 9 January 2025

The new fee consent forms will be available on the night of 9 January 2025, including all digital journeys.  

Any forms that are in progress will need to be completed prior to the night of the 9 January 2025 and submitted. All incomplete in-flight digital consent journeys will need to be restarted as of 10 January 2025. 

Depending on the contents of the form and the transitional arrangements, we would look to use the industry standard form as provided. This will help to reduce the duplication in adviser service fee forms. 

We’re only able to deduct advice fees if they relate to personal advice about the interest in the fund. We have a high-level checklist to indicate the services that will be provided, which is selected during the digital experience or when completing the form. 

You can elect to switch between fee arrangement types – if switching before the current fee arrangement ends, you need to choose if you wish to terminate the existing arrangement or wait for the arrangement to end. Once the current fee arrangement has ended, you can submit a request for the new fee arrangement. 

FirstChoice's newly enhanced client onboarding experience, powered by Elemnta, integrates with Midwinter, Morningstar AdviserLogic, and Xplan planning software. You can reduce FirstChoice account setup time by up to 80% when your data comes automatically with you. This provides a simplified and integrated flow to set up ASFs within the application journey. You can find more information here. 

CFS Edge is integrated with a number of leading advice software solutions and we’re continuing to expand our range of integration partners. CFS Edge provides API based integration to help streamline the client onboarding process (and avoiding re-keying) and also EPI (v4.3) data feeds to push detailed client portfolio information out to advice solutions. Existing integration partners include: Iress (Xplan), AdviserLogic, MyProsperity, and PlatformPlus. In January 2025, we’re also extending EPI integration partners to include BGL, Class, Plutosoft, and Investment Link (Midwinter). We're committed to working with advisers to drive efficiency through integration to enable you to spend more time servicing your clients.