The Future of Financial Advice (FoFA) reforms will pave the way for a more collaborative approach between industry funds and financial advisers, according to AustralianSuper, which has been trialling a partnership with advice firms.
Paul Schroder, AustralianSuper’s General Manager – Growth and New Opportunities, said that if the FoFA reforms progressed as proposed, he would expect to see more advice groups entering partnerships with industry funds.
“This is the new world,” he said. “I think good funds and good planners will inevitably start to work together more closely as a result of FoFA.”
AustralianSuper has been trialling an approach to providing advice for its members by partnering with six dealer groups. Speaking to riskinfo, Mr Schroder said the driver for the trial was to provide members with the full spectrum of advice.
“We know there are not enough planners. We also know that in five to ten years there will be more money in the system as more people transition to retirement. When you couple that with the complexity of their financial needs it makes sense to have an arrangement whereby members can get advice from a range of providers.
We’re all participants in the same industry, we just speak a different language
“Historically there has been a bit of a war between industry funds and planning groups. We figured the best way to understand them, so that we could work together in the future, was to go out and talk to them.
“We’re all participants in the same industry, we just speak a different language,” he said.
Mr Schroder says that the trial is ultimately about opening the lines of communication.
“We understand that for a planner to be able to advise a client on a particular fund, they need to feel confident about it. Until now they didn’t understand who we are and what our product is about,” he said.
The six advice firms participating in the trial are:
- Godfrey Pembroke
- Matrix Planning Solutions
- Dixon Advisory
- Woods & Partners
- Paul Moran
- Switzer Financial Planning
Together with AustralianSuper the advice firms have developed an operating Charter, which sets out each group’s expectations of the relationship. Mr Schroder said that much of what has been agreed in the Charter has been reflected in the proposed FoFA reforms. “The planners we want to work with must be operate under a fee for service model and must act in their clients’ best interest,” he said. “By putting the charter in place we can engage with the planning groups in a quality way, with mutual confidence.”
However, Mr Schroder is quick to point out that the trial was not about locking in referrals or product sales. “We see our fund as part of the overall offering. We’re not saying you always need to put your clients into AustralianSuper. And we’re not saying all the insurance and super for the advice clients needs to come to us. This is a different model. It is about what is in the member’s best interest.”
Tom Reddacliff, General Manager of Godfrey Pembroke said: “We are delighted to be working with AustralianSuper and believe this strategic alliance benefits our two organisations, advisers and most importantly members.
“This commitment to fee-for-advice closely aligns our organisations and makes Godfrey Pembroke a natural provider of trusted financial advice to AustralianSuper members. Furthermore, Godfrey Pembroke guarantees it will not receive a single cent of commission from any AustralianSuper member.”
Mr Schroder said the trial was progressing very well and he expected that it would be completed by the end of 2011.
