Advisers voted with their feet in attending a ‘sold-out’ risk-focused PD day delivered by Australian Risk Advisers.
The creation of Melbourne risk-specialist adviser and Australian Risk Advisers Founder, Aaron Zelman, this day-long PD event, held in Melbourne last week, considered many of the key issues impacting all advisers, but particularly those operating within Australia’s life insurance sector, delivered under the theme of ‘Survive and Thrive.’
The day’s program addressed a multitude of issues, which opened with a briefing from three well-known life company senior execs, in Damien Mu (CEO, AIA Australia), Niall McConville (GM Retail Distribution) and Mark Vilo (Acting Executive Manager, Asteron LIfe). These execs covered many of the issues currently impacting the life insurance sector and, within the context of their discussions, observed:
- “We need to recreate and re-imagine our future” (Damien Mu)
- “There are more people exiting the IFA world than entering” (Niall McConville)
- “Industry needs to be more efficient, especially with preassessment teams” (Niall McConville)
- “Two stakeholders have lost confidence in us – the Government and the Consumer” (Mark Vilo)
A ‘Q&A’ session followed the senior exec addresses, during which the critical issues of the day were considered and debated by the life company senior execs, together with stakeholders representing advisers (Sam Perera), adviser associations (AFA’s Phil Anderson), licensees (Wayne Handley), the regulator (ASIC’s Louise Macaulay) and the consumer (Consumer Action Law Centre’s David Leermakers).
Subsequent sessions throughout the course of the day addressed areas including:
- How to obtain optimal underwriting outcomes
- Feedback from advisers whose business model allows them to thrive, both now and in future
- Affirmation of the critically-important value provided to the consumer by risk-focused financial advisers
- Public and industry perceptions of financial advisers and how the ‘Perceptin Correction’ can be addressed
- AFSLs and the role of financial institutions
- Telling the amazing story of the value of advisers
- The science and value to advisers of technological and social innovation
- Efficiency gains through use of technology
- How to save time in your business
This 2015 ARA PD Day, which pivoted entirely to the issues impacting risk-focused advisers and/or their advice practices, is the second such even conducted by Australian Risk Advisers, following its initial event conducted in 2012 (see ARA Risk-focused PD Day Reflects Adviser Demand).
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