The introduction of the Financial Services Reform Act in March 2004 has altered the regulatory landscape for many accountants and lawyers providing investment advice as part of their normal business activities. To ensure they are not breaching the financial services laws, these professionals need to have a clear understanding of how the new laws affect them and what they can and can’t do without being licensed. This prsentation focusses on:
- what falls within the definition of 'financial product advice' and what remains outside?
- what can an accountant and lawyer can say without needing to be licensed or authorised?
- how to differentiate between providing purely factual information and financial product advice
- consequences for breaching the FSR laws
- the impact of the proposed legislation deterring the promotion of tax exploitation schemes.