IFA farewells FAANZ

UPDATED The Institute of Financial Advisers (IFA) is pulling out of the pan-industry grouping Financial Adviser Association of New Zealand (FAANZ).

Thursday, February 16th 2012, 1:53PM 1 Comment

by Benn Bathgate

FAANZ was established in 2008 to assist the regulators during an initial period of change when it was important for the regulator to engage with a diverse range of industry participants.

IFA president Nigel Tate said that with the initial period of regulator consultation over and the Financial Advisers Act established, the Institute has decided it is more appropriate to focus on areas more relevant to its members.

"FAANZ has functioned well over the past five years and is a credit to the participating organisations. We wish the remaining member bodies well and will happily work with them on an adhoc basis if required."

Tate said the Institute would maintain its focus on creating a distinct financial advising profession in New Zealand, developing professionalism amongst its members and drawing on its international connections "to be a key driver of the current regime."

FAANZ chairman Robert Oddy says "we are disappointed that IFA has chosen to formally withdraw (from the group)."

"FAANZ was originally established as an unincorporated and totally voluntary forum several years ago to enable each of the member professional bodies to share its views on matters affecting advisers with the other members. There have been many examples where FAANZ was able to promote agreed common views to Ministers and regulators."

"A key principle of FAANZ is that FAANZ will speak formally only where all the member groups are unanimous in their view on an issue. However nothing has ever prevented a member speaking out in their own right on any other issue where their view differed from one or more other members of FAANZ.

"I am sure that there will be opportunities in the future for FAANZ to meet with IFA and discuss matters of mutual concern", Oddy added.

Benn Bathgate is a business reporter for ASSET and Good Returns, email story ideas to benn@goodreturns.co.nz

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Comments from our readers

On 16 February 2012 at 9:19 pm Independent Observer said:

A significant challenge for the NZ industry is to present a unified voice – reflecting the collective objectives of its constituents.

Whilst FAANZ may / may not be the most appropriate vehicle to achieve this, offshore experience has demonstrated that united lobbying often outweighs a fragmented approach.

Hopefully the individual pathway elected by the IFA is recognised as reflecting the interest of its membership, and is considered seriously by those who count.