The referral deal is a pilot program being run with a 700,000-member construction and building industry fund Cbus, following “months of collaboration”, the FPA stated.
Under the trial arrangement, FPA Professional Practices in certain geographical regions that meet select professional criteria may accept referrals of eligible Cbus members seeking professional financial planning services.
Cbus chief executive David Atkin said the pilot allows fund members to access financial planning services delivered by a CFP practitioner.
“This is an exciting step. And we look forward to rolling out the initial pilot scheme to Cbus members in Queensland, South Australia, Tasmania and the Northern Territory,” he said.
“Pending the outcome of this initial phase, there is strong potential for the programme to become a national scheme for all eligible Cbus members.
Mr Atkin congratulated the FPA for its foresight in implementing the program and said the fund welcomed the ongoing collaboration with the FPA to ensure the joint initiative is a success.
FPA chief executive Mark Rantall thanked Cbus for its confidence and described the pilot as “a significant and healthy step in the right direction for the financial planning profession”.
“It’s a practical example of the ongoing joint dividend that flows from choosing professionalism: good for Australian investors, good for the professionals who serve them.”
Interesting article and even more interesting debate.
Some questions – as many FP’s are governed by large insto’s (CBA, WBC, ANZ, NAB), will their research groups be asking the same hard questions any decent FP would as part of their due diligence? Why is this important, as individual FP’s, we simply do not have the power that these insto’s have (for example, how many of us know that Industry Funds are a major shareholder of Shadforth Financial Group – and this is by no means casting anything on SFG, but more so, how many of us know this?)
Due diligence aside, how many of us are truly supporting our profession by coming to the FPA Congress in Sydney? And why is that important? As CBUS will be there, surely this provides us ample opportunity to ask the hard questions? Yes of course, time will be limited, but stand up and be counted?
And talking out of both sides of the mouth at once, cbus are a party to a relaunch of the “compare the pair” campaign…give me a break
Patrick, sorry I am unwilling forgive a smear campaign funded from funds that “were only to benefit members” quite so quickly.
Emotional issues aside, I am legally not able to recommend industry funds until we have FULL disclosure of ALL investment related fees, insurance commissions that are paid into group revenue of the provider, proper independence and capacity disclosure of the trustee board members, properly detailed disclosure of asset holdings, custody arrangements and investment strategies with more detail than “balanced”.
I would not be serving my clients in accordance with the required legislation if I did not at least attempt to review these matters. There is no information in any PDS that covers these and forget talking to any adviser, I mean telephone sales person, when you ring them up, they have no idea, trust me I tried.
I just hope this isn’t going to be the start of a turf war between FPA and AFA over doing deals with Industry Super Funds. A super fund member should be entitled to get advice from a qualified adviser of their choice and be able to pay that adviser in the same way the FPA adviser may be remunerated (whatever the method is).
The FPA Board for years has collaborated with the ALP & ISN during periods where both of those organisations did their best to make our lives difficult if not impossible. Extra layers of nonsensical compliance, additional costs for no discernable client benefit, and running ads slandering us and yet, now that we have a friendly Gov in power and we should be pushing for inquiries to be made into the interesting ISN/ALP dealings, the FPA has now made a deal with an ISN fund… Do not think for a moment that the ISN would hesitate to make our IFA profession extinct if it had the chance or they will ever be anything but against our profession. This is weak leadership and yes Patrick, the thing about ideology is that some of us still have our principals and a soine to stand by our beliefs.
Gerry, ok let’s see: it took longer than a few weeks to work out the details but the two parties communicated throughout that period.
I mean, some might like to work these things out on the back of a napkin but the FPA is a serious organisation that does its due diligence and has proper governance processes to follow before entering into even a trial arrangement. I am sure CBus is the same.
Patrick, please explain the months of collaboration.
This is a brilliant initiative by the FPA which will expand the provision of quality financial advice to more Australians and result in increased business for members who are Professional Practices. Anyone who describes this as a fail can only be speaking from ignorance or ideology.
I dont get this – we dont have transparency on the structure and nature of the investments undertaken by CBUS – so how in the hell can we attest to the fact that it is in the best interests of the client when comparing to what else is available – what we do the Sargent Schulz and “trust us” all is good in CBUS land – look no further than MTAA for a shining example of looking after the members interests.
Fail FPA
My $1100 a year doesn’t say anything about getting into bed with industry funds
It is the old story, if you sleep with dogs you will catch fleas. But the temptation is all too big for some. The left of politics is are the most greedy and vicious of all. They will get hung out to dry when it suits. Unfortunately a lot are tempted by the lure of a dollar or cant afford to say no.