The Financial Planning Association (FPA) has revealed 6.6% year on year decline in its membership but claims this is well within expectations.
Issuing its annual report today, the FPA pointed beyond the overall 6.6% decline to 1,090 new members which it said had brought it to a total of 13,189 members.
The commentary associated with the annual report says that “significant industry reform from the Financial Services Royal Commission, new FASEA [Financial Adviser Standards and Ethics Authority] standards, and changes to business models and financial planner numbers by a number of large Australian financial services licensees, have caused a significant number of financial planners to leave the profession”.
“This has been reflected by an approximate 15% reduction in financial advisers listed on ASIC’s Financial Adviser Register (FAR) from June 2019 to June 2020. We expect this to continue to affect FPA member numbers and the wider financial planner population over the coming year.”
“However, against this challenging backdrop the FPA is building a brighter future for financial planning. This year we unveiled a new strategic direction to support the growth of the profession, restructuring to better service members and embarking on a new five-year strategic plan to secure the future of financial planning in Australia,” the commentary said.
The annual report pointed to a reduction in the association’s number of CFP members to 5,550 down from 5,724 the previous year and financial planner AFP members down from 4,124 in 2019 to 3,725.
The annual report document stated FPA recorded a before-tax surplus of $241,000 for the year ended 30 June 2020 (2019: surplus $270,000) and an after-tax surplus of $241,000 (2019: surplus $281,000), increasing accumulated members’ funds to $11,480,000 at 30 June 2020 (2019: $11,100,000).
