Ongoing fee arrangements and fee disclosure statements, explained.

An ongoing fee arrangement (OFA) is an agreement under which a retail client who receives personal advice pays an advice fee for more than 12 months. Since the Delivering Better Financial Outcomes reforms, the client must give signed, dated written consent to enter into and renew it each year. The annual fee disclosure statement is no longer required.

The rules are in Division 3 of Part 7.7A of the Corporations Act 2001 ↗. The definition is in section 962A. ASIC’s current guidance is INFO 286, FAQs: Ongoing fee arrangements and consents ↗, last updated June 2025.

The obligations belong to the fee recipient: the licensee or representative who entered into the arrangement. Client services can do the work, but the fee recipient stays responsible. A fixed-term agreement of 12 months or less is not automatically outside the rules: ASIC looks at whether fees really stop at the end of the term.

The Treasury Laws Amendment (Delivering Better Financial Outcomes and Other Measures) Act 2024 ↗ received Royal Assent on 9 July 2024. Part 2 of Schedule 1 rewrote the ongoing fee rules. The new rules started on 10 January 2025, which the Act calls the start day.

How existing arrangements moved across

Arrangements entered into on or after 10 January 2025 were on the new rules from the start. Arrangements already in force moved across from their first anniversary after that date, called the transition day. ASIC’s example: an arrangement with a 15 December anniversary moved across on 15 December 2025. ASIC’s DBFO package page ↗ notes the old requirements could apply for up to 150 days after the transition day.

The last transition days fell in January 2026, so by mid-2026 every arrangement should be on the new rules.

A fee disclosure statement (FDS) was a yearly statement, given within 60 days after the anniversary day. It looked back at the fees paid and services received over the past year, and forward to the year ahead. ASIC’s older guidance, INFO 256 ↗, confirms the annual FDS obligation was removed by the DBFO Act. INFO 256 now covers only arrangements under the old rules.

What the law requires now is forward-looking. Before seeking consent, the fee recipient must tell the client in writing (s 962G(2)):

• the fee recipient’s name and contact details, and why consent is being sought
• the longest period before the consent ceases to have effect
• the services the client will receive in that period
• each ongoing fee, or a reasonable estimate and how it was worked out, and how often fees are charged
• that the client can end the arrangement at any time
• that if consent is not given, the arrangement ends and no further advice or fees are provided under it, and the date that will happen

There is no prescribed form. Product issuers may ask for their own form or extra details before they deduct a fee.

Good practice, not law. Many firms still include a short summary of last year’s fees and services delivered. If you send one, make sure it matches what was charged.

1. Know the reference day. It is the anniversary of the arrangement (later, of the previous reference day), unless the consent specifies an earlier day. The signing date does not move it.
2. Plan the review before the window opens. The window opens 60 days before the reference day. Good practice is to hold the review meeting inside that window, so the consent follows the advice.
3. Prepare the disclosure. Cover every matter in s 962G(2) for the period the consent can cover. Check fee amounts against what the product issuer will deduct.
4. Give the disclosure, then seek consent. The disclosure must come first. The consent must be in writing, signed by the client and dated. Electronic signing is fine; verbal consent is not.
5. Collect consent to deduct. For each account the fee comes from, get the account holder’s consent and give a copy to the account provider. One combined form can do both jobs if it meets every requirement and says what it is for.

Under sections 962R and 962S, a fee recipient must not deduct ongoing fees from a client’s account, arrange for an account provider such as a super fund to deduct them, or accept payment of them, without the account holder’s written consent. Section 962T says the consent must include:

• the account holder’s signature and the date
• the account holder’s name and the account number
• the amount of each deduction, or a reasonable estimate with an explanation of how it was calculated

ASIC’s temporary no-action position on missing account numbers ended on 5 September 2025.

Before arranging a deduction through an account provider, the fee recipient must give it a copy of the consent (s 962S(3)). For a joint account, every account holder must consent. A client can withdraw or vary consent at any time in writing. The fee recipient must confirm receipt, and pass the notice to the account provider, within 10 business days (s 962U).

Super trustees can only charge ongoing advice fees to a member’s account where the OFA consent obligations are met (section 99FA of the Superannuation Industry (Supervision) Act 1993).

If the client has not given a new consent by the end of the 150th day after the reference day, the existing consent ceases to have effect (s 962H) and the arrangement terminates (s 962F). From then on:

• No more ongoing fees. Charging a fee under a terminated arrangement is a civil penalty provision (s 962Z).
• Stop the deductions. Tell each account provider within 10 business days, and do not arrange further deductions without a new consent (s 962V(2)).
• Repay anything accepted after consent ceased. ASIC says this must happen within 10 business days (s 962S(9)).
• No duty to keep servicing. The firm does not have to keep providing services under the old arrangement.

If the client wants to continue, the firm can start a new arrangement with fresh disclosure and consent. ASIC says it cannot grant relief from these obligations.

Required by law

Under section 962X and regulation 7.7A.11AA, as set out in INFO 286, keep these for at least five years:

• each consent to enter into or renew the arrangement, and the information disclosed before it
• any client notice to renew, not renew or terminate, with the date it was given
• for terminated arrangements, the date and the reason
• each consent to deduct, with its date (ASIC accepts a timestamped screenshot of a web tick-box)
• withdrawals and variations, your confirmations of receipt, and communications with account providers

Failing to keep these records is an offence.

Evidence the service was delivered

The consent rules are about consent and disclosure. Showing that the disclosed services were actually provided is a separate question, and it matters just as much. In its fees-for-no-service guidance, INFO 232 ↗, ASIC says it expects a licensee to refund fees where it cannot identify reliable evidence that an annual review was provided.

Good practice is to keep, with the client record: the review meeting date and file note, the advice document (SoA or RoA) or review outcome, each service delivered against the services disclosed, and the fees charged against the fees disclosed. How Command Centre keeps evidence with the client record ↗

The Ashdown household is fictional. The couple entered into an ongoing fee arrangement on 18 March 2025, so the new rules applied from the start. Their review month is March. They renewed on 9 March 2026, so their next reference day is 18 March 2027. Their renewal window runs from 17 January 2027 to 15 August 2027. Fees come from each partner’s super account.

Had the Ashdowns not signed, the firm would follow up well before 15 August 2027. After that day, the arrangement would end and the firm would stop fees and tell the super fund within 10 business days.

A firm can also set an earlier reference day to line clients up with their review month, as long as it is disclosed before the client consents.

• The reference day and renewal window are recorded on the client record.
• The review is booked before the reference day, inside the window.
• The services delivered last year match the services disclosed, with evidence on file.
• The disclosure covers every s 962G(2) matter, went out before consent was sought, and its fees match what will be deducted.
• The consent is signed and dated by every client, and by every holder of each account the fee comes from.
• The consent to deduct shows the account number and amounts, and a copy has gone to each account provider.
• Unsigned consents have an owner and a follow-up date well before day 150.
• Terminations are actioned: fees stopped and providers told within 10 business days.
• Records are filed for at least five years.

• Using old forms. Pre-2025 renewal notices and FDS templates do not cover the s 962G(2) matters.
• Letting the signing date reset the cycle. The next reference day rolls on from the last one, not from when the client signed.
• Fees that don’t match. An estimate in the form with no explanation, or an amount that differs from the deduction.
• A missing signature, date or account holder. One partner signs for a joint account, or the form is undated.
• No copy to the account provider. A deduction must not be arranged until the provider has a copy of the consent.
• No evidence of service. The review happened, but the file note or advice document is not on the record.

This guide is general information, not legal or compliance advice. Confirm how these rules apply to your firm with your licensee or compliance adviser.

Bunya AI builds Bunya Command Centre, the practice operating system for Australian financial advice firms. It is built in your firm’s own Microsoft 365. Command Centre starts each review cycle from the client’s real dates and keeps fee consent with the review it belongs to.

Bunya drafts the follow-up and the consent request. The adviser approves both before anything goes to the client, and consent is recorded when it is signed. Bunya does not decide whether your firm has met its obligations. Your firm and your licensee do.

• Reviews and fee consent: the review cycle, with consent tracked alongside it.
• Compliance and evidence: file notes, approvals and documents kept with the client.
• The financial advice process: where reviews sit in the wider client journey.