Financial Advice feedback 'vast'

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Members of the working group developing Financial Advice New Zealand say they now have a “vast and well thought-out” amount of information from advisers to work through.

Monday, February 13th 2017, 6:00AM 1 Comment

Eleven forums were held around the country this month, to discuss the development of the new association.

PAA chief executive Rod Severn and IFA chief executive Fred Dodds are both part of the working group developing the framework for the group.

They said every forum produced good insights, suggestions and views on the future role and focus of Financial Advice New Zealand.

But the amount of information delivered had been enormous and represented a challenge for the group to process it well.

"We have a huge amount of views and suggestions work through; ensuring that we now give all of those the attention they deserve is crucial," Dodds and Severn said.

"But what has already come through consistently and solidly... is keep it simple and concentrate on the three most important things, that is: advocacy and lobbying and having a united voice; standards, which is about what we need to do to give the public confidence that Financial Advice New Zealand members act under a set of ethical standards; and it's about promotion of financial advice - to make advice more accessible and in turn to help New Zealanders be better off.

"Out of these three areas will fall a variety of things to do, but based on the conversations we have had over the past weeks and months, clear focus areas have definitely emerged."

They said it was too soon to say what the specific outcomes of the forums might be. But there were some common goals to consider.

“Attendees were very clear that we need to redefine relevance – that Financial Advice New Zealand must put current structures in the past, take a good look at the various participants in the advice sector, and clearly define where it can add the most value in today’s world,” Severn and Dodds said.

“We discussed the various roles the Association could play, of which advocacy/lobbying, public awareness, and standards were central to many views and suggestions offered by advisers.

“We talked about how Financial Advice New Zealand could increase public confidence in advice and access to advisers. On the subject of trust, we talked about whether membership to Financial Advice New Zealand should signify certain adviser qualities, and if so, what would need to underpin that. We talked about the role of a required set of ethical standards in building reputation and public trust.”

Severn and Dodds said forums had also discussed how Financial Advice New Zealand could be structured to maximise the potential of one larger group representing advice, as well as ensuring the specific needs of different types of advisers were catered for.

Forums had also questioned whether the association should have a role in career development for advisers and building profile with universities to encourage more young people into the industry.

The Financial Advice New Zealand Working Group expects the consultation stage to finish by March 7. The feedback received will be used to shape the new association through a 20-day planning stage.

Tags: Financial Advice New Zealand

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