New call for FPA/AFA merger
There are renewed calls for financial advisers to have a single representative voice and for advice to be separated from product — this time from financial planning broker, Paul Tynan.
In the wake of both the Financial Planning Association (FPA) and Association of Financial Advisers (AFA) conferences, Tynan believes it is time for a single voice clearly separated from product offerings.
He said history had shown that the structure of the industry and products had been the drivers of bad behaviour and culture.
"The loudest voices that claim they know what is best for the industry are invariably attached to product providers and self interest groups calling for cultural change — but cultural change can only happen if structured business change is implemented first," Tynan said.
He said the current industry business models had been developed on product lines and that even the professional adviser associations were divided on product lines, with risk and investment advisers gravitating to the AFA and FPA respectively.
"We now need a voice based purely on advice and separated from product offerings," Tynan said.
"By having the advice associations merge into a single united body, we will reinforce the emphasis on advice and the outcome will be real leadership and genuine vision," he said.
Tynan said he believed consumers would be the greatest beneficiaries and that the advice sector would be united and not dividend along product lines.
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