Overhaul of Financial Advice - another step towards convergence?

Minister Bowen's announcement today, although not unexpected, contains some 'interesting' elements:

• a statutory duty to be imposed on financial advisers - but what additional protection does this offer clients over and above the common law duty?
• confirmation that accountants will lose their exemption for SMSF advice, but no hint of what will replace it
• no recognition that these reforms may impact most on those who are otherwise least able to afford fee-for-service advice

On this last point, the latest announcement from the Cooper Review last week might hint at how the government proposes to address this - by running advice through the MySuper model.