Financial Advice NZ: Aim for 3000

Financial Advice New Zealand should focus on boosting member numbers to improve its bottom line, the former chief executive of the IFA says.

Wednesday, April 17th 2019, 6:00AM

The new association now has 1680 members.

It was born from the merger of PAA, which had about 1200 members, with the IFA, which had about 730, and the NZFAA.

When the association was formed, it was hoped that other groups might join, and that it would eventually pick up some of the thousands of advisers who are not members of any association.

The association recently launched a business partnership scheme, through which organisations can partner with Financial Advice NZ to help bolster its work.

First on the list was to work on evidence to back up the value of financial advice and advisers.

Partners would pay $3000 each.

IFA chief executive Fred Dodds said it might get a funding boost that way, but if the association could grow to 3000 members, that would mean about $1 million more each year for its bank accounts.

He said the association needed to grow to the size where it was of similar standing to the Law Society.

An association of that size would also have the credibility to take a stand in the industry, he said.

Chief executive Katrina Shanks said the association was looking at different growth strategies.

"A membership base of 3000 would certainly allow us to have a stronger voice for advocacy, greater promotional ability and raise standards through the development of additional educational tools.

"Financial Advice NZ is about to launch a print and digital campaign after Easter to promote the value of Membership and the 2019 conference. As a new organisation we have now reached over 3 million New Zealanders on social media, had 23,000 unique visitors to our website and over 4000 seek a financial adviser on our website. This is an exciting journey we are on and we are certainly getting a lot of interest for new members."

She said the association had held discussions with CFPs about whether they wanted a targeted marketing strategy and the funding component of that.

Tags: Financial Advice New Zealand