The Association of Financial Advisers (AFA) officially ceased operations on 30 June, with Phil Anderson, its chief executive officer, formally transitioning to the role of head of policy at the Financial Advice Association Australia (FAAA).
In honour of his tenure at the helm of AFA and its 77-year history, Mr Anderson shared an extensive post on his private LinkedIn profile, emphasising the significance of professional associations. He also openly admitted that despite recent headwinds, he is “more optimistic” about the future than he has been for “a long time”.
“The momentum has changed. The impact of these never-ending and often ill-considered or poorly implemented reforms is understood. The damage has been done, and the focus is now on how to turn things around. The Quality of Advice Review response will be a critical part of that,” he said.
“Now that the merger of the AFA and the FPA, to create the FAAA, is virtually complete, we can look forward to a strong considered voice that is arguing in the interests of our members, seeking outcomes that will be good for financial advisers and also the clients that they serve.
“If we can achieve that, then ultimately this will be in the best long-term interests of the financial advice profession.”
Conceding that “we will undoubtedly have challenges in the future”, Mr Anderson said that he is confident “the winds will start to blow in our favour and we will achieve some important reforms”.
“Now as part of the FAAA, I am sure that the 77-year legacy of the AFA will continue to be honoured, in helping to create a community that fights for the interests of financial advisers, but also gives us all something to belong to and assistance to grow as individuals and to be the best that we can. And let’s not leave out having some fun along the way,” Mr Anderson said.
“Financial advice is a profession that delivers great value, is well respected and trusted by clients and makes a real difference in the lives of many Australians. With passion for what we do, and a real purpose, the future is bright.”
Professional associations are core participants
Acknowledging the pivotal role of AFA in the realm of financial advice, Mr Anderson underscored that “professional associations are core participants in the advocacy arena”.
Moreover, he used his post to criticise certain behaviours that, he said, have sown seeds of division in the industry.
“The last 10 years have been very difficult, however you cannot stand back, like a spectator at a football game, and yell abuse from the sidelines. Our profession does not need such division and distraction that does not change the outcome,” Mr Anderson wrote.
“Neither can you be missing during an important debate, but then later blame others for the ultimate outcome. The AFA has taken firm stands on many important issues along the way, and these positions were communicated to members at the time and published on the AFA website.”
Professional associations, he noted, “need to have a vision for the profession”.
“You can’t just oppose everything and flip around. You can’t stand back and refuse to engage or make it impossible for others to include you. Neither should you overtly choose one side of politics over the other.
“As a professional association, you are in this game for the long haul, and governments change over time. It does not help your members if you are forced to sit on the bench for the entire duration of the next government when there is a change in who is in power. It might create headlines, but rarely delivers enduring results.”
The ultimate role of a professional association, Mr Anderson said, is “to bring our members together, help them to be the best that they can and to assist them to enjoy and thrive in what they do”.
“This has not always been possible, and many have suffered in recent years, however, at the AFA, our primary focus has always been to achieve the best outcome that we could for our members.”
AFA members transition to FAAA
On Tuesday, FAAA revealed that, in total, it has already achieved over 8,700 membership renewals, with more to come.
AFA heritage members, it said, numbered 2,489 at the start of the renewal process across all categories. In total, 1,563 had transferred to FAAA as at the end of June, with 146 advising that they don’t plan to transfer.
The remainder includes duplicate members, members who have started the process but not yet completed it, and members who haven’t responded yet.
HI there why are so many comments nt allowed to be posted here?
In spite of Mr Anderson’s justifiable claim that “clients” trust us, advisers may still have a poor reputation based on the fact that 49% of retirees do not trust us and 34% of the remaining feel that advice should only cost $500 (yes, I acknowledge that these are not “clients”). For how much longer are we advisers going to endure the constant negative publicity?
Thanks you Ando for your service while at the helm of the AFA your many years steering Government policy from the AFA
Congratulations Phil on what has been a very long, challenging and no doubt exhausting and frustrating period in Financial Services legislation & regulation.
I have had considerable contact and interaction with you in relation to many issues over the last decade and I applaud your considered approach when the amount of white noise was overwhelming.
It is never easy to please all of the people all of the time and with many competing factions, it was always going to make life even harder than it ever should have been.
The interaction I have had with you & the AFA over a long period of time has taught me that the juggernaut of politics is sometimes an insurmountable challenge to be able to demonstrate and succeed in achieving common sense outcomes that are clear to all concerned other than the Politicians who either clearly do not understand and do not wish to or will cling to power at every last opportunity they have rather than having the courage to stand up for what is right.
Congratulations Phil and good luck for the future in whatever direction that may take you.
In my opinion, you fought the good fight, but it takes a village to take care of it’s own.
Thanks for all your hard work Phil
Mr Anderson uses the word professional association but I’m yet to witness any evidence that Advisers have a professional association. I’m confident Mr Anderson is a nice bloke, but whilst ever we have these bodies trying to represent an entire industry we’ll never have a professional association and we’ll always have division.
I did not get value from the AFA and don’t expect much to change with the FAAA.
By all accounts, Phil Anderson was a great advocate for the industry.
I appreciated how AFA spoke out under his watch whilst the FPA remained silent.
It needs to be noted though , associations need to speak out. Both AFA and FPA failed to be publicly vocal when the government brought out idiotic legislation.