FPA condemned over CommFP response

The Financial Planning Association’s (FPA) response to the Commonwealth Bank financial planning fallout has elicited a scathing retort from the Association of Independently Owned Financial Professionals (AIOFP), who accused the association of being opportunistic.   

In an open letter to FPA chair Matthew Rowe, AIOFP executive director Peter Johnston said the association had unfairly condemned the wider advice industry for what he called a “product manufacturer/management issue”.  

“Why are the FPA continually seizing on opportunities to denigrate the advice industry?” he said.  

Johnston said he believed the FPA were opportunistically trying to use the incident to draw attention to its 10 point plan and in turn, ignoring other stakeholders.  

He said the matter was better left to the Financial Services Council (FSC) and should not be seen as an “industry-wide dilemma that the white knight FPA must fix”.  

In the letter, Johnston also accused the FPA of having a “servitude relationship with the regulators” and supporting the elevation of its judicial power to “act on suspicion” without evidence of wrongdoing. 

The FPA have been contacted for comment, but did not reply before Money Management’s deadline.