PAA and LBA talk of a merger

UPDATED: The Professional Advisors’ Association (PAA) and the Life Brokers Association (LBA) have commenced merger negotiations.

Friday, March 9th 2007, 5:24AM

If they are concluded successfully the combined group will be the largest association representing life insurance advisers in New Zealand.

The PAA has just under 600 members currently and the LBA has around 120 life brokers in its membership.

PAA general manager Dave McMillan says there is very little cross-over in existing membership.

He says the combined association would be known as the PAA. “Members will gain immediate benefits from the synergies created through the merger.”

Both organisations have some similarities in that they are mainly life insurance based, and they offer members a number of benefits.

LBA runs a number of sub-groups including the Corporate Club and Business Development Group. The former is for members interested in learning and developing advanced applications of life insurance products in business situations and the latter is more focussed on the family insurance market.

Currently both associations are part of the so-called G4 – four associations which are looking to form a single Approved Professional Body (APB) once adviser regulations come into force.

McMillan says the merger will speed up the development of both organisations. He says LBA, although being the smaller group, brings a number of positive things to the table including a process for issuing practicing certificates. The proposed deal also strengthens the idea that there is just one body which represents insurance advisers.

McMillan says while it makes the G4 on a pan-industry regulatory body the G3 it doesn’t really make any changes.

The combined PAA is committed to making the joint Approved Professional Body (APB) structure work.

He says the main hurdle to leap to achieve a successful merger is getting ratification from LBA members. The PAA doesn’t have to put the merger to a general meeting of members.

LBA president Alex Rogers says that so far feedback from members has been all positive.

He says the proposal isn't a done deal, rather it has to be discussed and debated amongst members and voted on at the LBA's annual meeting in May.

His belief is clearly that the merger should go ahead. he says there is a lot of common ground between the organisations and each brings a number of strengths to the deal.

One attraction to the LBA is PAA's size and membership base.

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