[Weekly Wrap] What makes a professional body?

One of the most commented-on stories this week included Nigel Tate's comments on the impact of the new code of conduct on professional bodies.

Friday, October 11th 2013, 11:26AM

by Susan Edmunds

Professional bodies will no longer be able to claim that their CPD offerings are structured purely by virtue of the fact that it is a professional body delivering the training. They'll need to prove that the person running the training is adequately qualified, and advisers will need to demonstrate it fits into their development plans.

Tate said that would take away some of the discussion about what constituted a professional body. New ones were springing up that in some cases didn't really qualify, he said. The change would be a boost to those that were being run well.

The number of professional bodies operating in the industry has been raised as an issue before. Former PAA GM Jenny Campbell said she wasn't too worried because people would find their home in the one that suited them best - but she was quite dismissive of some of the newer organisations.

Some have said that the industry won't speak with a strong enough voice until it's represented more clearly by one organisation.

In other news this week, there's probably still more discussion to come on how more advisers can get in on the KiwiSaver act, although one academic has said the decision to move away from allowing non-AFAs in the space may have more to do with patch protection from existing investment advisers than anything else.

The Retirement Commissioner has suggested a tax change on savings accounts that some say could influence investment behaviour, but it's highly unlikely to be implemented. And with all the IPO activity on the sharemarket, it's hard for advisers to keep up.

For mortgage advisers, the impact of the new LVR restrictions is still flowing through.RESIMAC has announced it'll restrict low-equity lending to brokers who meet certain standards. That's not an unexpected move - RESIMAC had said before that it didn't want a loan book entirely made up of 90% loans.

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