A new FPA ad campaign supports raising professional education standards, while two dealer groups plan to double the number of women they employ and a new practice-development program rolls out at Australian Unity Personal Financial Services.
The Financial Planning Association (FPA) has launched an advertising campaign reminding financial planners that from July 1, 2013, it will be mandatory to hold an approved degree to become a practitioner member of the professional association.
The advertising campaign supports the announcement made by the FPA two years ago of an initiative to raise the standards of the financial planning profession. It also aligns with the Future of Financial Advice (FoFA) reforms being implemented by the government in July. However, Mark Rantall, chief executive of the FPA, said the association recognised that education alone will not be enough.
“Unfortunately, there are a few bad apples in each industry and financial planning is no different. While FPA members already hold some of the highest educational and ethical standards in the industry, there are those in the industry who call themselves financial planners but are seemingly unaware of the specific competencies, training, licences, professional standing and services provided as part of that title,” he said.
The advertising campaign, already running on the FPA website, will launch in trade media – online and print – in April.
Westpac and St George Financial Planning aim to double the number of women working in planner roles by 2015 to over 700 planners. The initiative will see current female representation in Westpac Financial Planning and St George Financial Planning increase from 26 per cent to 45 per cent over three years.
“We know women make great financial planners and it’s time we made it easier for women to work in our growing industry,” said Mark Spiers, general manager of advice at BT Financial Group.
To achieve this, both businesses have reviewed and revised their employment offers to ensure they are attractive for women interested in financial planning as a career. “By looking at our own work practices and listening to the changes women need to make the profession more attractive, we are making real change to the way we attract and retain women to the profession,” said Spiers.
Structural change has already been made across the businesses to improve the flexibility of the employment offer and to increase the level of planner support.
This includes the revision of planner scorecards to better reflect flexibility of work hours, as well as access to childcare and the opportunity to purchase additional leave to help manage school holidays.
Australian Unity Personal Financial Services has launched a new practice-development program aimed at helping its financial advisers to run more efficient practices. The Best Practice for a Financial Planning Business program will enable advisers to benchmark their financial planning process so they can determine what they need to do to work towards achieving best practice.
Chief executive of Australian Unity Personal Financial Services, Steve Davis, said the program was based on extensive analysis of successful advisers and consultation with industry experts.
“In developing this program, we first looked at finding out the best way to perform each task in the financial planning process, who should ideally perform that task and, finally, how long it should take to complete,” Davis said.
