The Association of Financial Advisers and dealer group Affinia have announced a partnership designed to increase the number of advisers that are members of a professional association.
In a joint statement, the AFA and Affinia confirmed that new advisers joining the risk-specialist dealer group will automatically become members of the AFA. They will also be offered the AFA’s Masters-level professional development training for specialist risk advisers, which leads into the AFA’s Chartered Life Practitioner (ChLP) designation.
The partnership has been built into Affinia’s professional development program, the Affinia Risk Academy, to help ensure Affinia advisers maintain a high standard of professionalism, training and development.
However, despite the mandate, individual AFA membership fees and any professional development training will need to be funded by the individual adviser.
“Affinia shares the AFA’s goal of increasing professionalism of advisers and we particularly support using development programs that have been purpose-built for advice practitioners,” said Affinia General Manager, Craig Parker.
“True professionalism means being committed to quality advice through ongoing education, giving back to the profession, and maintaining membership of a peak professional body like the AFA.”
AFA CEO, Brad Fox, said: “We are delighted to be able to join with Affinia to encourage more advisers to become members of the AFA, while also offering a professional program that enhances both the business performance and professional credibility of their risk specialists.”
In similar news, the Commonwealth Bank recently announced that it will require all of its financial advisers to undertake the Financial Planning Association’s Certified Financial Planner certification (see: CBA Commits to Adviser Associations, Education Benchmarks).
