In a statement on Friday, the Financial Advice Association Australia (FAAA) said the number of advisers who have renewed or are in the process of renewing their membership with the FAAA is “very pleasing”.
“We are very happy with how the numbers are tracking,” said FAAA chief executive officer Sarah Abood.
“Between them, the FPA and AFA had just under 12,000 members across all categories just before the merger, of which 8,946 were practitioners. As at today, 9,525 members have renewed across all categories including 8,093 practitioners. This means that 90 per cent of advisers have renewed their membership with the FAAA,” Ms Abood explained.
Wealth Data released figures on Thursday, indicating there are currently 7,851 advisers who are members of the FAAA, as per records maintained by the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC).
However, Ms Abood stressed that ASIC data on the Financial Advisers Register (FAR) represents “current practitioners who had completed their renewal with FAAA before the bulk update cut-off earlier in August”.
“It does not include those who are still in the process of finalising their membership, or those who have left the register but who are still members, for example who have become non-practising or retired members,” Ms Abood said.
“We are very appreciative that ASIC supported the profession by agreeing to do this bulk update as a one-off, saving licensees many hundreds of thousands of dollars.”
She noted that the FAAA’s ambition is to “have as many members as possible”.
“The FAAA represents a united voice for the financial planning profession, and there is strength in numbers which is a big factor in how effective we can be in Canberra.
“We encourage any advisers who haven’t yet done so, to renew their membership. The grace period for renewals ends at the end of September so there is still time to renew membership before it lapses.”
According to Wealth Data, the total number of advisers now sits at 15,712.
While I have more time for Sarah Abood than her predecessors, the reality is that the Flight Attendants Association of Australia have done more for the Financial Planning Industry than the FPA / AFA ever did. The massive collapse in overall adviser numbers is testimony to this.
FAAA Out…!
Waste of money.
Membership fee for no service.
In terms of results such as LIF, FASEA, Grandfathering and quite a few others, it is a bit hard to see how the FPA/AFA have ever achieved much for advisers.
I’ve estimated over the years i have paid close to $35,000 in fees to be a CFP member of the FPA . My Practice has paid substantially more to cover the cost of the extended advisory team. When the new FAAA body (representing planners interests) have lobbied that advisers should complete the ethics course (despite this not being proposed as a requirement by the government), I decided the membership fees for myself and our firms advisers can be better spent in other areas.
Mark Twain once quipped “There are lies, damned lies and statistics”!!!
Perhaps I stand to be corrected here, however whilst losing approx. 10% of your practitioner members is not desirable, what do you make of the approx. 53% reduction in renewals across other membership categories!!!
The FAAA realise Adviser numbers are shrinking and looking towards that honey pot of potential members in Super funds. The words of Dante De Gori still ring in my ears…”we don’t represent you we represent the financial planning industry and that’s a lot of participants” Why do Advisers put up with that and the FAAA take advantage of it.
So that’s why Dante is now the CEO of the Financial Planning Standards Board.
https://www.fpsb.org/about/staff/
What have they truly done for us, happy to be 1 of the 10%
I would not want to be a member of an association that thinks losing 10 percent of their practitioner members in one year is a “very pleasing” result. When is the FPA/AFA/FAAA going to wake up to the fact that the reason they are bleeding members is due to their inability to demonstrate any ability to get results for their members.
They are now a large corporate which will do anything to protect the brand and the jobs of those involved including deception and obfuscation. It seems to me the best option has been for a long time for the FAAA to close down, return the accumulated funds to members and let’s start again with some will intentioned individuals who are doing it for more than it looking good on their CV’s and because they can’t get any better elsewhere.
And who actually is interested in this???