ASIC funding levy to charge advisers $46.2m

The financial advice sector can expect to contribute $46.2 million to ASIC's industry funding levy for the 2025 financial year, new estimates show.

ASIC's Cost Recovery Implementation Statement (CRIS) report shows that advisers who provide personal advice to retail clients on relevant financial products, which comprises most of the sector, will pay $39.3 million.

This is based on 2680 AFSLs with 15,233 advisers. In essence, an AFSL will pay the minimum levy of $1500 plus $2314 for every adviser on their books.

Those that provide general advice only will pay $5.2 million. There are 1122 of these entities and they can expect to pay a flat levy of $4665.

The 565 licensees that provide personal advice to retail clients on products but are not relevant financial products will pay $44,000.

Licensees that provide personal advice to wholesale clients only, in which there are 1991, will pay $16 million and pay a flat levy of $825.

In budgeting the $39.3 billion FY25 levy, ASIC expects to allocate $17.2 million on enforcement activity and $5.6 million on supervision and surveillance.

ASIC flagged it has prioritised its policing of cold-calling superannuation switching business models, saying it is an issue that has reached an "industrial scale."

ASIC has also made this issue prominent in the CRIS report along with investigating SMSF establishment advice, which includes an assessment of related AFSL policies and procedures.

The levy will also spend money reviewing on how AFSLs rely on offshore service providers and how they manage the risks.

"In particular, we will look at how they manage risks related to technology, data sharing and privacy. We will also publish resources that will help licensees improve the security of client data when sending it offshore," ASIC said.

The total levy estimates budgeted for advisers for 2025 is slightly lower than the amount ASIC estimated for the prior year of $48.4 million.

The Financial Advice Association Australia (FAAA) said while it is good news that the ASIC levy has decreased slightly for the 2025 financial year, it is still a significant impost on the shrinking financial advice sector, which is primarily made up of small businesses.

"It is yet another cost on advisers, the vast majority of those who are doing the right thing but must pay for the ASIC enforcement costs with respect to the misdeeds of those who aren't - including those who are unlicensed. We continue to advocate strongly for the ASIC levy to be reduced, along with more transparency on how these costs are arrived at," the FAAA said.