By Blake Briggs, Deputy Chief Executive Officer
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The financial services industry is facing into serious challenges, not just as a result of the current COVID-19 pandemic, but also working through significant reform arising from the Financial Services Royal Commission and a range of other Government and regulator inquiries.
I return to the Financial Services Council and am looking forward to working with members to support them through these challenges and provide an important conduit to the Government.
Much good work has been done by the FSC policy team in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, including engaging with regulators on market stability issues and providing certainty to frontline healthcare workers that they can secure life insurance during the crisis.
There remain significant opportunities for the FSC to continue to focus on, such as examining the regulatory barriers that may stand in the way to customers accessing timely and affordable advice when it is sorely needed.
I hope to also use this year to carefully work through the Royal Commission recommendations. The Government has made it clear it will faithfully implement all recommendations, but much detail remains to be finalised. The FSC will look to avoid adverse and unintended consequences that impact consumers and the industry.