KEY POINTS:
The Government has allocated $9 million over the next four years to speed up the introduction of new laws governing financial advisers in a bid to ramp up protection for investors.
Commerce Minister Lianne Dalziel said the funding would allow financial service providers to be registered, enable a dispute resolution scheme to be set up and help the Securities Commission to undertake a role in the licensing of financial advisers.
The Government introduced a new disclosure regime for advisers earlier this year and is in the process of working through new laws to govern them which were initially due to be rolled out by 2012.
But the recent spate of finance company collapses has spurred calls for the law changes to be hurried up.
Suzanne Edmonds, spokeswoman for investor support group EUFA, said she would have preferred to see money put aside for enforcement of existing laws rather than trying to introduce new ones.
Dalziel's announcement also outlined the Government's expectations for how much the changes will cost the industry for the first time - a figure of $6.5 million.
Institute of Financial Advisers chairman David Hutton said it had always been aware there would be transition costs to the industry but he believed it was too soon to put a figure on it as there were still many decisions yet to be finalised.
