riskinfo

Our latest riskinfo poll asks: Should the AFA and the FPA merge?

The question is simple, but the answer is complex.

It makes sense to picture a unified adviser organisation that represents the entire financial adviser community, where a single voice will speak louder than the sometimes fragmented individual voices of the FPA and the AFA.

As Matrix Planning Solutions Chair, Pieter Franzen, points out in his open letter calling for a merger of the two Associations:

“Each organization … has strengths that support the advice profession.  We believe that one of the associations has a strong governance and professional standards capability, whilst the other has clear strengths in building adviser relationship skills and developing the next generation of advisers.”

While each association holds similar philosophical positions on many issues, two key differences that need to be addressed are:

1. Future adviser remuneration models.  The FPA supports a fee for service model for investment and superannuation advice, while the industry still awaits announcement of its position on future remuneration structures for risk insurance products.  The AFA believes advisers and consumers should be given a choice of remuneration models that include commission as one option.
2. The FPA holds itself to be a professional organisation that sets the standards by which its members operate, similar to accounting associations.  The AFA is more a representative body advocating the interests of its members.

Advisers who have already contacted riskinfo hold a range of opinions. One adviser believes that neither the AFA nor the FPA has been pro-active in supporting non-aligned financial planners.  He believes the proposed merger will be ‘a merger of paper tigers’.

Some advisers have commented that the thought of being a member of an association that speaks on behalf of all advisers is one that resonates, while others point out that the accounting profession appears to have been well served by its two peak associations over many years.

What is your opinion?  As we said, it’s a simple question, but while the answer is complex, we want to know whether you agree or disagree in principle with the question:

Should the AFA and the FPA merge?