Associations hang back from Financial Advice NZ

[UPDATED] Financial Advice New Zealand is working through the last stages before its official launch, but some adviser bodies are still undecided about whether they will join it.

Tuesday, May 29th 2018, 6:00AM 2 Comments

by Susan Edmunds

The new association will launch on July 1 and members of the founding organisations - IFA, PAA and NZFAA have been able to join since May 18.

They were able to transfer their membership to the new association, at a special “founding member” subscription price of $759 a year for practitioner members and $412.50 for associates. Other members will be charged $862.50 a year for practitioners and $512.50 for associates.

Financial Advice NZ establishment board chair Sue Brown said more than 700 declarations have been completed in just over a week.

"With many more coming in each day. As of today, we’re tracking well ahead of where we expected to be at this stage of what is a ten-week sign up process."

The new association has previously said its goal was to attract members who were not part of those - or any - organisation to boost its number.

IBANZ chief executive Gary Young said his organisation was "waiting and watching". "At this stage it's all a bit of an unknown. We are watching on the sidelines and have maintained communication with them. We won't do anything at this point."

Wayne Smith, chief executive of the TripleA Advisers Association, said it could be some time before his organisation made a decision.

"Our position in respect to Financial Advice NZ has been the same since it was first mooted. We are not adverse to possibly seeing the emergence of a larger, more effective advocacy body for financial advisers. However we certainly wouldn’t be looking to join Financial Advice NZ in the near future.

"If it successfully gets established and then up and running effectively for what is a fairly diverse population of financial advisers then we might give the issue consideration at some point in time. I suspect it will take two to three years before a view forms as to whether it achieves this."

Brown said the association's focus was on achieving successful launch on July 1.

"After that we’ll be delighted to talk with any adviser association that shares our focus on standards, advocacy and promotion and our commitment to professionalism."

Tags: Financial Advice New Zealand

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Comments from our readers

On 29 May 2018 at 6:01 pm Bruce Cortesi said:

As a long serving Adviser to New Zealanders and the industry, I respect the opinions of those who have commented. However, I am of the firm belief that New Zealanders are more aware of the importance of "independence" than ever before. That is one of the major benefits of Financial Advice NZ, a truly Independent Professional Body. As an Adviser, we can choose to stay with the past, the present or embrace the future. Personally, I find the future more exciting - yes change is part of the future, and for the average aged Adviser (and I am one of them) change can be confronting. However, you can either choose to be a leader in our future profession, or a follower. I choose to belong to the former. We need to be a more vibrant and professional career choice if we are to attract new young people with fresh ideas who can help all of us deliver more advice to more New Zealanders.

On 31 May 2018 at 3:40 pm Comprehensive Planner said:

It seems there may be an element of protectionism raising its head. I would not be too concerned about the TrippleA Advisers Assn holding back as most of their members are already members of either the IFA, PAA or NZFAA. Most would wonder why they should be continuing to pay double subscriptions for the same support.

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