The first AFAs announced
Ten people have qualified as Authorised Financial Advisers (AFAs) as the new regulatory regime for financial advisers goes live today, to be phased in by July.
Wednesday, December 1st 2010, 2:15PM 
9 Comments
by Jenha White
A further 112 applicants are in the Securities Commission system awaiting authorisation
The ten AFAs are:
Whangarei
- Verleene Robertson, Northland Money Management.
Auckland
- Gavin Busch, NZ Financial Planning
- David Milner, Britannia Financial Services
- Simon Hassan, Hassan and Associates
Hamilton
- Colin Vazey,Vazey & Child Chartered Accountants and Business Advisers
Christchurch
- Selwyn Paynter, Capital Investment Planning
- Sian Ruth, Capital Investment Planning
- Andrew Verrall, Capital Investment Planning
- Katrina Hawker, Capital Investment Planning
- Michael Taylor, Strategic Financial Planning, Christchurch
Also from today, all entities that provide financial services must be registered with the new Financial Service Provider Register, except financial advisers who have until 31 March 2011. So far 685 financial advisers have registered.
Mayhew urges advisers wishing to qualify as an AFA to keep moving promptly through the assessment processes.
Some 4,000 advisers have taken the first step in the process by registering for qualifications and 2,128 have booked examination dates for the core Standard Set B exam.
Mayhew also noted that from today all financial advisers have a statutory obligation to act with care, diligence and skill.
"That gives the investing public greater legal recourse in the event that things go wrong."
He says from early 2011, the Securities Commission will be signalling to the public that if they want personalised investment advice they should be dealing with an AFA.
"Investors have a right to expect their adviser to engage now to obtain the professionalism expected of them under the new regime," he says.
"They shouldn't have to wait until the law takes full effect on 1 July 2011."
To find out everything you need to know about the main features of the regulatory regime, click here.
Jenha is a TPL staff reporter. jenha@tarawera.co.nz
| « Sole advisers already registered can get refunds | Two tiered AFA disclosure » |
Special Offers
Comments from our readers
On 1 December 2010 at 2:37 pm John said:
Interesting. So to date only 17% of advisers have opted for AFA status. I think ETITO are being very optimistic then if they think that the full number of advisers registered on their training system will actually book exams. On 1 December 2010 at 2:54 pm Craig Dealey said:
Congratulations to these few who have taken the initiative and been the first to apply for Authorisation. To some the process may seem a little confusing or not clear at times, but that can just be an excuse to not do anything. This shows that it is doable and not an unnecessarily high hurdle to cross. There are still a lot of advisers out there that need to get things sorted, and I think with the possible bubble coming through the best advice is, get it done and get your application in early. The process is a positive one for the financial advice industry (or is that profession...) On 1 December 2010 at 3:08 pm Alistair said:
Well said Craig. Hats off to those few that have gained their qualification. I am still not convinced though that AFA status will actually change bad habits in the industry. As other readers have commented previously regulation appears still to be more about making money off advisers than making a serious attempt to clean up the industry. On 1 December 2010 at 4:39 pm Barry Read said:
Well done to you all! And on behalf of the Auckland IFA Branch well done to Simon, David and Gavin. One question though, will Mary and I have to greet you differently at branch meetings from now on? Cheers Barry On 1 December 2010 at 9:25 pm Michael said:
Mmmmmm. I have written about some shared views on "regulation" in past months.
Alistair, your comment seemed to strike a rather relevant point.
Regulation is not much different to having locks on doors.
They only keep the honest people out.
I am without doubt that this new move should help put the willys up any advisers who have devious pre-meditated intentions.........HOWEVER
may I return to one of my main points in past months, and much of the theme is on "perceptions"!
Because there is now a publicised "regulation move" to advisers, the problem is that the investing public will now "perceive" that all investments, and all portfolios are going to be safe.
Hey, to help prove the point, just take the example of all those investments offered with a "fully regulated" PROSPECTUS.
Now who were some of them?
Blue Chip, Bridgecorp, First Step (Money Managers), and the list of finance companies.....
Regulation...the saviour.
The "lock-breakers" will still be out there...?
AND...are investors EVER going to be enjoying TWC (True Wealth Creation), which I copyrighted a few years ago.
TWC is all wealth created above fees, tax, and what they refer to as 'inflation'.
the portfolios which can achieve this all-important factor are just virtually non-existent.
Someone prove me wrong and tell me of a portfolio which has consistently achieved more than 15%pa gross equivalent in todays environment?
If you think that what they refer to as 'inflation' is really no higher than 3%pa then you should seek better advice yourself.
My old clients wouldn't get out of bed for anything less than 15%pa.
And the big solution is supposed to be regulation???
The highest regulated economy in the world was a main contributor to the financial debarcle that hit the world 2 or 3 years ago...and it ain't over yet.
I for one hope that the 'new entrants' to the finance profession take on the facts from the right sources in the 'best interests' of their investor clients, because regulation alone did not help their predecessors to build real portfolios with TWC.
Watch this space.
Michael D.
On 2 December 2010 at 1:19 am Forthright said:
Congratulations to the ten Authorised Financial Advisers. If these Advisers offer discretionary investment management service as defined by section 12 of the Act) AND a service involving the keeping, investing, administering, or managing money, securities, or investment portfolios on behalf of other persons. Then they satisfy the criteria of both section 5(a) AND section 5(d) of the Financial Service Providers (Registration and Dispute Resolution) Act 2008 (FSPA).
But what about the 4186 (4196 Advisers registered with ETITO) Advisers? How many are offering a discretionary investment management service as defined by section 12 of the Act? Are these Advisers secure in the knowledge the Commission is going to ignore the law and show leniency? Or should the Commission take steps to warn unregistered Advisers to not engage in any action that would put the Adviser at odds with both section 5(a) AND section 5(d) of the Financial Service Providers (Registration and Dispute Resolution) Act 2008 (FSPA). That is, the Adviser must register by 1 December 2010 if the adviser provides both a financial adviser service (as defined by section 9 of the Financial Advisers Act 2008 which includes the provision of a discretionary investment management service as defined by section 12 of that Act) AND a service involving the keeping, investing, administering, or managing money, securities, or investment portfolios on behalf of other persons.
Therefore if an Adviser holds a power of attorney or discretionary authority and acts on behalf of clients after 1/12/10 to manage their clients’ portfolios held within a custodial or management service and are not registered, you could be in serious trouble.
On 2 December 2010 at 10:02 am Majella said:
The figure that I find disturbing is that only 685 of us have completed registration with FSPR. Having onlt Set C WPA to complete, I'm expeting a relaxed Christmas On 2 December 2010 at 10:36 am Capital Investment Planning said:
Thanks for all your kind words. Its a special day for us, not only individually, but also because our firm is the first in the country where all advisers are now AFAs. It wasn't difficult. To quote another corporate - just do it! On 2 December 2010 at 11:22 am Murray Weatherston said:
Is anyone else worried about the following statement attributed to the Commissioner:
He says from early 2011, the Securities Commission will be signalling to the public that if they want personalised investment advice they should be dealing with an AFA.
There is no legal requirement to be an AFA until 1 July 2011. Lots of us have to sit exams but we still intend to be AFAs by the due date.
Why should the Securities Commission use its position for a maximum of 6 months to promote those who are already AFA (and congratulations to those early adopters, most of whom I would guess to be CFPs who have a Diploma and so only had to pass Set B) over and above those who are about to become AFAs.
Really we should be rioting in the streets if that happens. If you want an analogy, it would be the same as IFA going out and promoting those who already have a CFP over those who were perhaps on the way to CFP.
It all seems me to be a crude attempt to try to force more advisers into doing their exams earlier to meet the regulators timeframes and capacities rather than our own.
Commenting is closed
|
|
Printable version |
|
Email to a friend |
