Financial advisers will be reacting with fury as they begin receiving their Compensation Scheme of Last Resort (CSLR) levy notices from the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC), revealing cost increases that many describe as nothing short of outrageous.
For advisers, what was already a painful levy in 2024 25 has now ballooned to breathtaking large sums – a jump that is threatening the survival of advice practices and pushing the cost of financial advice further out of reach for everyday consumers.
The Government’s handling of CSLR sub sector cost overruns has now been laid bare in black and white, with levy notices exposing the real and devastating impact on individual advice businesses.
We were warned this was coming but seeing the actual invoice land will be gut wrenching. The Government simply cannot keep increasing this levy at this rate and expect small advice firms to survive.
This does not just hurt advisers. It directly hurts consumers. The more we are forced to absorb these costs, the more expensive advice becomes, and the fewer Australians will be able to access it.
The advice profession is angry that we are being forced to subsidise the consequences of failures they had no part in creating. We are effectively underwriting the collapse of large, failed institutions while trying to run compliant, ethical advice businesses ourselves. It is unjust, and it’s unsustainable.
Based on ASIC’s adviser headcount of 15,041, this equates to $700 extra per adviser this year alone, and that figure assumes adviser numbers hold steady.
Every time costs like this go up, more advisers leave. Fewer advisers means higher costs per remaining adviser, higher fees for consumers, and fewer Australians receiving professional advice.
This levy system is accelerating the advice affordability crisis yet the Government talks about improving access to advice, but the CSLR is doing the exact opposite.
It is clear to me that the responsible Minister and Government are incompetent.
Stu Varidel – MFinPlan, CRPC, ABFP, AFP
Principal Financial Adviser | Chartered Retirement Specialist | Accredited Behavioural Finance Professional | Money Guru | Wealth Adviser “2025 Advice Advocate of the Year” |