“There wasn’t a degree called financial planning; it was far more of a sales-based industry with products as the end goal for consumers,” he says.
Klipin is “overly optimistic” about what financial planning will look like in the future, because of the quality of the new talent coming in.
“I work with these people day in and day out – I can see their passion and their capability.
“The reason I’m optimistic is that there’s a great talent pool coming through and joining the marketplace. There’s only two in 10 Australians that actually get advice – so there’s a huge market opportunity and when done well, advice transforms people’s lives.
“So the actual offer that we’re bringing to the table [including its GenXt initiative] is just a massive and significant one.
“What we need to do better is to communicate that value to obviously make sure that financial planners are seen as professionals. That means the code, that means education; and when the next boom cycle comes, we’re well-positioned to stamp out any of the ‘nasties’ that we’ve seen through the last few booms.
“In a sense, that’s why we’re debating as intently as we are about FoFA, because our view is that the Government’s got the wrong end of the stick and they’re using FoFA as a punitive bunch of measures to address an issue, which frankly was an ethical issue.”
As part of the Financial Planning Standards Board’s Regulatory Advisory Panel, held in London in early July, Sanders met global financial planning industry bodies to discuss professionalism.
“This debate is alive in every financial market on the planet,” Sanders says.
“This dialogue is happening in the US, in Europe and the UK at both a political regulatory level and, of course, at an industry and professional level.
“What I’m presenting on is why you need to think bigger about professions; how do you measure their progress and evolution; and then, how do we create change in those professional communities?”
Sanders says: “People are given enough information from their media channel to make informed judgments about what is a profession and what isn’t.
“If they can’t work out clearly that there are professional associations and there are would-be, wannabe, pretend associations, then we really haven’t dealt with a professional association debate.”
