The legislation is scheduled to be introduced in February, and expected to be passed by June 2016.

“We have consistently supported the general thrust of the recommendations made by the Financial System Inquiry and the PJC reports to improve the standards of financial advice and build professionalism,” said the SMSFA’s managing director and chief executive, Andrea Slattery.

“Raising the educational standard for financial advisors is critical to ensure consumers get the quality of advice they have the right to expect and to grow a financial advice industry that has trust as a core building block," she said.

“It’s also imperative that all financial advisers operate under a code of ethics as a way of increasing the professionalism of financial advice.”