The financial planningindustry may have breathed a collective sigh of relief at being exempted from the Federal Government’s anti-money laundering and counter terrorism financing reforms (AML/CTF), but not everyone is happy about it.

Andrew Carriline, general manager of Westpac’s AML/CTF program, said in the bank’s submission to the Attorney-General’s department on the draft AML Bill, that financial planners should be included in the initial tranche of reforms.

“It is particularly pleasing to note that the government has removed the requirement to identify customers at the advice stage,” said Financial Planning Association CEO Jo-Anne Bloch after planners were exempted from the initial tranche of reforms.

However, according to Westpac, the exemption will cause problems. “Financial planners should be included in the first tranche of the legislation,” Carriline said. “As it stands, their inclusion in the second tranche will require short-term solutions to be implemented to address the artificial break in the funds management delivery chain that will be reversed once they are subject to the regime.”

Bloch, in the FPA’s submission, said many planners remained skeptical of the reforms, despite the exemption. “Many FPA members continue to have misgivings about the need to implement AML/CTF obligations along the lines proposed in the Bill and doubt that any benefits in terms of improving Australia’s ability to counter money laundering and terrorist financing will outweigh the cost and inconvenience of the new measures,”she wrote.