Franks joins PAA board

Management consultant and former AIA head of distribution Darrin Franks has been added to the Professional Advisers Association board as an independent member.

Friday, September 4th 2015, 6:00AM

by Susan Edmunds

Franks said he had been working with the association for a number of years and felt he had skills to contribute.

“I have a great degree of passion for the industry.”

Franks said associations should be working closer together and with product providers to further the industry. “It’s a relatively small industry and it should be bigger. There shouldn’t be any such thing as channel conflict. Customers ultimately decide which channel fits their needs.”

Those who chose to work with an outsourced distribution model should do so on the basis that was an extension of themselves, he said.

The outsourced distributors should see their value proposition as enhancing what they could supply by way of advice and product to customers. “One can’t shine without the other.”

Franks said the mistrust of stakeholders in the industry was pulling it down. “Entities and individuals need to get over themselves and get on and get a bit more customer-centric. The rhetoric is around customer first but it doesn’t always live up to it.”

Concerns were not limited to advisers, he said.

For every problem a product provider pointed out, he said there would be an issue the providers were guilty of, too.

“Let’s just work together to improve it.”

He said there was a massive need for advice in New Zealand.

Tags: PAA