The AFA is nearing the completion of its 2015 National Practitioner Roadshow series, where it has been addressing the key regulatory, evolutionary, social and technological issues impacting advisers, their practices and the broader financial services sector.
During a period in which the integrity of financial advice is under an intense spotlight being shone by politicians, consumers and regulators, advisers at this year’s Melbourne roadshow were provided with the opportunity to consider all these issues and the role being played by the AFA in addressing them.
Under the theme of Connecting Knowledge with Performance, advisers at this week’s Melbourne roadshow heard from AFA CEO, Brad Fox and AFA President, Deborah Kent, who provided a strategy update, including a review of the Association’s vision and key objectives.
AFA Chief Operating Officer, Phil Anderson, updated the audience of over 300 on the Association’s advocacy initiatives, particularly in relation to the present Life Insurance Framework proposals and debate. In discussing the key LIF issues, including the proposed remuneration and clawback provisions, Mr Anderson positioned this current debate within the context of what has come before it, including the FoFA debate, where life insurance conflicted remuneration was largely left out of the reforms, the earlier FSC churning proposals, ASIC’s Review on Retail Life Insurance Advice (Report 413) and the Financial System Inquiry recommendations, including FSI Recommendation 24, which calls for a move to level commission only.
… the outcome for the consumer stemming from this current debate remains a …critical unknown.
Mr Anderson also covered the timeline followed by the Life Insurance and Advice Working Group, set up in the wake of ASIC Report 413, the appointment of John Trowbridge as its independent chair and the subsequent release of the Trowbridge recommendations, which have since been effectively replaced by the new Life Insurance Framework proposals. Importantly, Mr Anderson noted the outcome for the consumer stemming from this current debate remains a “…critical unknown.”
Advisers heard from Brendan Cox, General Manager of 2014 AFA Practice of the Year, Complete Financial Balance. Mr Cox, who spent 20 years in the Australian military, including tours of duty in Afghanistan and East Timor, shared with his peers the processes of his firm at an organisational, rather than individual level, and how the practice has evolved over many years.
He emphasised not just the importance of the various tasks required of the advisers and staff within the business, but also why each team member is performing those tasks, and why their roles continue to change within an evolving world.
He spoke of the ‘I’ to ‘We’ concept where, to succeed as a team is to hold everyone in that team accountable for their expertise. He said each team member must go on a journey to become an expert in their field. Mr Cox also shared the values system under which the business operates and urged his peers to consistently reaffirm their own value sets.
Special international guest at this year’s Roadshow has been US-based Dr David Lazenby, an expert in the emerging field of finology, which studies of the relationship between financial planning, individuals and money.
Dr Lazenby considered the individual money constructs that influence our brains ‘anticipatory’ nature about money. He articulated a whole-brained-approach to improving client outcomes, as well as six basic response skills that psychologists – and financial advisers – must master.
Importantly, Dr Lazenby said that while the Internet can never replace face to face advice, he urged advisers to discover their own ‘uniqueness’ in order to identify the value they are able to deliver existing and future clients.
From the education sphere, AFA’s General Manager, Member Services & Campus AFA, Nick Hakes, spoke about some of the unintended consequences of raising minimum education standards for advisers, and what they can expect in terms of minimum future educational qualifications and requirements for both existing advisers and new entrants.
While he laid out what the future educational pathways may look like for these groups, Mr Hakes also took the opportunity to advocate educational levels that extend beyond the future minimum mandated requirements, within the spirit of advancing the industry along the path to professionalism.
The large adviser audience also heard from other AFA Award-winning advisers, Eleanor Dartnall (2014 AFA Adviser of the Year) and Kate McCallum (2014 AFA Female Excellence in Advice Award winner). In relating their background and career journeys, both Ms Dartnall and Ms McCallum shared insights with their peers about their approach to their clients and the nature, content and format of the services each delivers.
At the conclusion of the formal series of presentations, Mr Fox and Mr Anderson held an informal 30-minutes Q & A briefing for risk-focused advisers, covering the new Life Insurance Framework proposals. They provided an additional overview of the process and responded to questions and concerns raised by advisers.
The 2015 Roadshow completes this week, but the AFA has signalled its intention to conduct an additional roadshow, slated for early September, which will focus entirely on the Life Insurance Framework proposals, and what this will mean, particularly for risk focused advice businesses.
