{"id":28478,"date":"2015-01-20T16:19:33","date_gmt":"2015-01-20T05:19:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/riskinfo.com.au\/news\/?p=28478"},"modified":"2015-02-04T07:13:52","modified_gmt":"2015-02-03T20:13:52","slug":"associations-welcome-proposed-mandated-membership","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/riskinfo.com.au\/news\/2015\/01\/20\/associations-welcome-proposed-mandated-membership\/","title":{"rendered":"Associations Welcome Proposed Mandated Membership"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"font-size: 14px;line-height: 1.5em\">Australia\u2019s two largest financial advice associations say they are ready to handle an influx of members if professional association membership becomes mandatory.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><!--more--><\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_21224\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-21224\" style=\"width: 150px\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\"><a href=\"https:\/\/riskinfo.com.au\/news\/files\/2013\/06\/Dante-De-Gori-2.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-21224\" alt=\"Dante De Gori, FPA GM Policy and Conduct\" src=\"https:\/\/riskinfo.com.au\/news\/files\/2013\/06\/Dante-De-Gori-2.jpg\" width=\"150\" height=\"180\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-21224\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Dante De Gori, FPA GM Policy and Conduct<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Responding to the Parliamentary Joint Committee (PJC) on Corporations and Financial Services\u2019 report on advice standards and education, the Financial Planning Association (FPA) said it supported the recommendation to mandate professional association membership for all financial advisers.<\/p>\n<p>The PJC has called for all advisers to be registered in order to be able to deliver personal financial advice. To become registered under the PJC\u2019s proposal, advisers would be required to:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Hold a degree qualification<\/li>\n<li>Complete a structured \u2018professional year\u2019<\/li>\n<li>Pass a registration exam<\/li>\n<li>Undertake continuing professional development<\/li>\n<li>Maintain membership of a professional association and adhere to the association\u2019s code of conduct and ethics<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>FPA CEO, <strong>Mark Rantall<\/strong>, said the Association welcomed the recommendations, because it was clear that higher standards and professional association membership delivered better results for consumers.<\/p>\n<p>He estimated that planners holding the FPA\u2019s professional designation (Certified Financial Planner) represented around 30% of the industry.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAnd yet, over the last five years, they (CFP qualified members) represent less than 7% of all ASIC bannings, and less than 5% of the ASIC enforceable undertakings. So there\u2019s one solid proof point that professional standards, ethics and accountability, plus appropriate education standards, have a significant impact on the quality of advice and the protection of consumers.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhy wouldn\u2019t the whole industry get behind that?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>FPA General Manager Policy and Conduct, <strong>Dante De Gori<\/strong>, added that the PJC\u2019s recommendation that professional associations be accredited by the Professional Standards Councils would also provide certainty for consumers.<\/p>\n<h6>Hopefully the whole industry can see their way clear to line up behind some of these important changes<\/h6>\n<p>\u201cThere are currently a large number of associations and groups in the industry, and the consumer is none-the-wiser about whether those groups have any legitimate position around training and standards and ethics. That recognition needs to be provided to our members and their clients,\u201d Mr De Gori said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe call on everyone in the industry to get behind the PJC\u2019s recommendations. Hopefully the whole industry can see their way clear to line up behind some of these important changes, to lift \u2013 once and for all \u2013 the standards of advice for financial planners in this country,\u201d Mr Rantall concluded.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_26056\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-26056\" style=\"width: 150px\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\"><a href=\"https:\/\/riskinfo.com.au\/news\/files\/2014\/04\/Nick-Hakes-2.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-26056\" alt=\"Head of Campus AFA, Nick Hakes\" src=\"https:\/\/riskinfo.com.au\/news\/files\/2014\/04\/Nick-Hakes-2.jpg\" width=\"150\" height=\"180\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-26056\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Head of Campus AFA, Nick Hakes<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>The Association of Financial Advisers (AFA) said it had already experienced an increase in membership and enrolments to its professional designation, the FChFP, despite the fact the Government has yet to respond to the PJC\u2019s report.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe momentum built quickly toward the end of last year and we have responded swiftly to ensure that the AFA can continue to support the financial advice community to manage and deal with the changes being experienced,\u201d AFA CEO, <strong>Brad Fox<\/strong>, said.<\/p>\n<p>The AFA has subsequently increased its resourcing, adding two new staff members to the Member Services and Campus AFA team under the leadership of <strong>Nick Hakes<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p>The AFA said it is also conducting a significant upgrade to its Membership Experience software.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe are well known and respected for our member engagement; the sense of community that our members feel. This investment in upgrading our software will further enhance our engagement with our members and, as new members join the AFA, they will immediately experience the value of their AFA membership and feel a part of our professional community,\u201d Mr Fox said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt will also support and encourage advisers to participate in the Your Best Interests campaign which will showcase the value of advice to consumers when it goes live in April this year.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Australia\u2019s two largest financial advice associations say they are ready to handle an influx of members if professional association membership becomes mandatory.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[282,8,248],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-28478","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","category-associations","category-compliance-regulation","category-training"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/riskinfo.com.au\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28478","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/riskinfo.com.au\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/riskinfo.com.au\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/riskinfo.com.au\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/riskinfo.com.au\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=28478"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/riskinfo.com.au\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28478\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/riskinfo.com.au\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=28478"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/riskinfo.com.au\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=28478"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/riskinfo.com.au\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=28478"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}