FPA to dig deep into heart of industry
The FinancialPlanning Association (FPA) will undertake five surveys in an ambitious move to gauge the state of the industry and its own place within it as the peak industry association.
The surveys will be conducted in conjunction with RMIT University and headed up by adjunct professor of financial planning Wes McMaster, who was previously head of the Adviser Investment Services and Bleakleys dealer groups under Mercantile Mutual. He is also a past chair of the FPA.
The five surveys, the first of which was kicked off last week, will cover financial planning business structures, consumer sentiment, professional practice standards and the perception of the FPA and its work according to the media, Government and other industry associations.
McMaster says the survey data will be unique because Australia is a sophisticated financial services and financial planning market with a single body representing a large majority of the planning industry.
“The FPA has about 560 corporate members and represents about 80 per cent of the industry and there is no other market in the world where that occurs. This creates unique opportunities to survey the trends and patterns which occur in financial planning,” McMaster says.
The surveys will be compiled by McMaster through the RMIT economics and finance faculty, with responses taken anonymously and compiled on an aggregate basis for the FPA.
The information may be used commercially by the FPA, as the survey data will have the facility to be broken down into industry segments. RMIT will also retain the information for use in academic studies, as part of its intention to become a financial planning research specialist.
McMaster says the first survey results should be out in July, with the series becoming an annual event for the FPA, which has contracted RMIT to produce the surveys over the next three years.
“The FPA has an interest in this type of work because it can gauge the industry and respond better to its needs, it can use the data to lobby government and regulators, and it provides value back to FPA members,” McMaster says.
AUTHOR
Jason Spits
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