The government has released its long-awaited regulations on the disclosures that financial advisers need to make under the Financial Advisers Act.

The regulations provide details on the form and content of disclosure statements which all financial advisers will have to provide to customers from 1 July next year, when the Financial Advisers Act and the Financial Service Providers Act will be fully in force.

The new Code of Professional Conduct for Authorised Financial Advisers, which sets out minimum standards of competence, knowledge and skills, ethical behaviour and client care, will come into effect on December 1.

Financial advisers commissioner David Mayhew said the announcement, published in the Gazette, was an important milestone for the implementation of the new regime.

Insurance advisers and mortgage brokers will be allowed to be voluntarily authorised under legislation covering financial advisers, Commerce Minister Simon Power said today.

A number of changes were made to the Financial Advisers Act earlier this year to clarify that people providing advice solely on insurance or credit products were not required to be authorised.

However, as a result of this change, insurance advisers and mortgage brokers expressed concern they could no longer be authorised if they still wanted to be.