The Financial Planning Association (FPA) and the Association of Financial Advisers (AFA) are conducting initial discussions on the possibility of merging the two associations.<\/p>\n
This move follows a\u00a0proposal made\u00a0by\u00a0Chairman of Matrix Planning Solutions, Peter Franzen<\/strong>, and the Matrix Board, for a united adviser body .<\/p>\n AFA CEO, Richard Klipin<\/strong>, said the AFA is happy to conduct discussions with the FPA on the possibility of a merger between the two associations, saying there is logic around strength in numbers: “Influencing the political and regulatory agenda is a numbers game and the greater the numbers, the greater the influence,” said Mr Klipin.<\/p>\n A single, united voice that represents the common interests of all financial advisers is one that would resonate in Canberra, where politicians have previously indicated that adviser\u00a0bodies\u00a0making representations to the\u00a0 Government on key issues can sometimes deliver quite different or\u00a0inconsistent\u00a0messages.<\/p>\n The ongoing debate about the nature of adviser remuneration is one key area where the AFA and FPA currently differ.\u00a0 The AFA advocates freedom of choice with clarity of disclosure, while the FPA is following the path of transitioning to fee for service remuneration for all its members by\u00a0mid 2012.<\/p>\n There are also philosophical differences between the two organisations, where the FPA is structured as a\u00a0professional association, while\u00a0the AFA sees itself as a representative organisation first.\u00a0 AFA President, Dr Jim Taggart<\/strong>, commented, “Our message could not be simpler. We exist solely to represent and support advisers in looking after their clients.”<\/p>\n “While the AFA Board will meet shortly to discuss Mr Franzen’s letter, the issues he raises are matters not only for the Board, but for our members,” said Dr Taggart.<\/p>\n Like the AFA, the FPA Board has also yet to meet to discuss the prospect of a merger between the two associations, but\u00a0FPA Chair, Julie Berry<\/strong>, told riskinfo the Board will meet this week.<\/p>\n While welcoming the opportunity to discuss a merger proposal, Ms Berry added that discussions were at a very\u00a0preliminary stage\u00a0and that the FPA, like the AFA,\u00a0would not be moving away from any of its positions on\u00a0key issues such as remuneration, professional standards and adviser education.<\/p>\n News of this development follows the announcement earlier this week that the AFA had joined with a number of key dealer groups to set up a new body to represent advisers in politics and in the media (see: New Licensee Lobby Group<\/a>).<\/p>\n With discussions of a possible merger between the\u00a0FPA and AFA in their very early stages, riskinfo will provide updates as they occur.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The Financial Planning Association (FPA) and the Association of Financial Advisers (AFA) are conducting initial discussions on the possibility of merging the two associations.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5234","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","category-general"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/riskinfo.com.au\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5234","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\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/riskinfo.com.au\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5234"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/riskinfo.com.au\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5234\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/riskinfo.com.au\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5234"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/riskinfo.com.au\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5234"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/riskinfo.com.au\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5234"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}… the greater the numbers, the greater the influence<\/h6>\n