Financial Planning FOFA unknowns still a concern. The Future of Financial Advice reforms may have passed through the House of Representatives but there is plenty of unknown detail causing concern to the major associations - detail which will need to be worked through in conjunction with Treasury and the Australian Securities and Investments Commission. Read more from Money Management Client-centric firms have an advantage. Financial services businesses will have to reposition themselves as truly client-centric in order to survive the tougher investment markets and see significant improvement in performance, according to the chief of a financial services firm. Read more from Investor Daily Superannuation Report assesses super allocation issues. New Rice Warner research has assessed the current super industry’s allocation position, including the issues around equity allocation, concluding that the traditional asset allocation is flawed. Read more from Financial Standard Bill Shorten and Mathias Cormann in super war of words. A battle has broken out between the Government and the Coalition over superannuation reforms, with the Opposition spokesman on financial services, Senator Mathias Cormann, accusing Minister for Financial Services and Superannuation Bill Shorten of being “all talk and no action”. Read more from Money Management Regulatory Industry codes need ‘radical surgery’. The industry’s existing codes of conduct will require “pretty radical surgery” before the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) is likely to deem them sufficient, says Mallesons senior associate Michael Mathieson. Read more from Money Management Govt continues to overlook adviser disclosure. The Future of Financial Advice (FOFA) reforms have created a more politically engaged financial advisory sector, however, the government has not yet appropriately responded to the issue of full alignment disclosure, the head of an advice group said. Read more from Investor Daily Funds management Big quarter for managed funds. Most managed funds reviewed by Morningstar generally experienced very positive returns for the March quarter, with many equities funds posting double digit gains and some small companies funds climbing more than 20 per cent. Read more from Money Management Opportunity in mortgage trusts. As the Federal Government turns to the issue of meeting the income needs of retiring Australians, one sector of the managed funds industry designed to do exactly that is crying out for a review and reappraisal. Read more from Professional Planner Investments Investors should drip money out of cash: Coredata. Financial advisers face challenging times ahead with investors continuing to rebalance their assets towards cash and overlooking other asset classes that could provide benefits from a market upswing. Read more from Investor Daily Comparing global and Australian equities. Schroder’s Andrew Fleming compares Australian equities with their global peers and finds that while the trends are clear, the answers are not. Read more from Professional Planner Accounting Reform adjustment will take years: ICAA. Accountants will need up to two years to fully comply with new regulations once the government makes an announcement on its planned removal of the accountants’ exemption, an accounting industry body spokesman said. Read more from Investor Daily Life in the (finance) fast lane. Australia-based accounting and finance professionals face a buoyant market for their services in 2012 – but they will need to do more to convince employers they are worth high salaries as their organisations try to manage rising wage bills. Read more from InTheBlack Insurance Risk market grows further 10%. The life insurance risk market has again recorded double-digit growth, with most risk companies achieving impressive results over the past year, according to research from Plan For Life. Read more from Money Management Call for clearer life insurance churn definition. Industry discussion in relation to what constitutes ‘churning’ in life insurance needs to be replaced with a debate on a sustainable remuneration model for switching policy providers, according to TAL chief executive for retail life Brett Clark. Read more from Money Management Markets Investment manager confidence edges up. There has been an increase in bullish expectations for Australian shares, international shares and Australian real estate investment trusts (A-REITs), with 64 per cent of Australian investment managers maintaining their view that the Australian share market is undervalued. Read more from Money Management Private debt market imbalance to last years. As banks and other providers continue to deleverage following the GFC, the current low issuance of new collateralised loan obligations (CLO) is combining with looming expiration periods of existing CLOs to leave a financing gap for leveraged buyouts (LBO), the research found. Read more from Financial Standard