I’ve see a few descriptions recently but have decided that it means Did I Miss Something – a question, no doubt the FMA has been asking itself since the David Ross scandal broke. I understand there were some other suggestions at the Grosvenor roadshows on alternative definitions.

But seriously there is little doubt that DIMS is one of the biggest challenges facing advisers at the moment. We have been trying to find out where things are at. It appears to us that the December implementation date won’t be met, and that some transitional arrangements will be used, rather than forcing all advisers to make the changes on a set date.

One question we keep asking is whether the new leadership at the FMA will listen to what IFA’s have been saying.

During the week I read this speech and have to really wonder why the FMA takes the view that "financial advisers remain a priority for us".

"That’s partly because they have considerable influence – over consumers – through their advice.

"It’s also because there are a large number of them – a little over 1,900 AFAs at March 2014, and a little more than 6,500 RFAs."

There is little evidence that the advice sector is high risk. For evidence of this look at things like recent court cases and complaints to the external disputes resolution schemes like the ISO and FSCL.

Advice isn’t a high-risk area. We can construct a strong case pretty quickly that the money spent by government departments on this sector and the financial and time costs imposed on advisers is totally out of proportion with the risk.

Or put it in investment terms the return on money spent on policing this risk just doesn’t deliver the rewards.

Before I dismount this horse, note must be made of David Ross’s appearance in court this week.

An area which is increasingly attracting attention at the moment is around providing products to help people when they reach retirement age. The jargon is decumulation, but it is such an awful phrase we do try and use different names for it.

Yesterday we had a good update on where Ralph Stewart is at with getting his NZ Income Guarantee product to market. We will have more on this next week. One of the things is that there is a significant amount of money potentially coming out of KiwiSaver in future years. Sticking it in a term deposit isn’t a good option – especially when you read a comment in yesterday’s Reserve Bank Monetary Policy Statement. It said, in a nutshell, that TD rate hadn’t been rising in line with mortgage rates. The result that banks are getting funds at good rates which helps their profitability.

Talking of the MPS we have a review of some of the key comments from economists here for you to read.

In Investment News we have another excellent piece from Pathfinder, this time it looks at risk and volatility. Have a read here.

In other news:

Devon makes a direct offer

FACTA now a fact