After attending the AFA and FPA National Conferences, Connect Financial Service Brokers (Connect) CEO Paul Tynan says that over his 30 plus years of experience he has seen lots of change in the advice industry but nothing compares to the current situation.

However, as intense as today’s struggle to divorce itself from the product manufacturers, platforms, fund managers and lobbyists and move to a truly advice profession Paul Tynan says it is still a ‘work in progress’.

Paul Tynan goes on to describe the lobby groups at work in the financial services debate as a copy of the lobby industry in American politics.  The political system in the USA is now driven by money and the power of lobbyists and is void of good public policy.  He continues to hold out hope that our political system in Australia never mirrors the American model that is perpetually gridlocked and has led to bad policy and short term-ism.

Paul Tynan said it is important to acknowledge that to change culture you first must put in place the right business framework; you must get the structure right.  History has shown that the structure of industry and products have been the drivers of bad behaviour and culture.

The loudest voices that claim they know what is best for the industry are invariably attached to product providers and self interest groups calling for cultural change – but cultural change can only happen if structured business change is implemented first.

The current industry business models have been developed on product lines. Even the professional adviser associations are divided on product lines with risk and investment advisers gravitating to the AFA and FPA respectively.

We now need a voice based purely on advice and separated from product offerings.

“People inside of vertically integrated businesses will say that scale provides better resources, compliance and that advice and product do operate individually and advisers / consumers have freedom of product selection.  But research and experience continues to show that the consumer does not separate or is aware of this connection”, affirms Paul Tynan.

“By having the advice associations merge into a single united body we will reinforce the emphasis on advice and the outcome will be real leadership and genuine vision”.

Paul Tynan is adamant and that advice industry needs one voice and this can only occur by the AFA and FPA merging into a single membership based professional organisation.

On reading this, many will immediately ask why?

“The answer is quite simple and that is because the consumer will be the greatest beneficiary and in turn, so too will the industry.  In doing so, the advice sector is united and not divided on the current product lines and this would take the industry to the next level and give it immense credibility with consumers and regulators”.

“Just as Paul Keating and Paul Kelty had the vision to set the foundation of our superannuation industry we need true visionary leaders to put their differences aside and set the advice industry as the premium professional service association in financial services”, concluded Paul Tynan.

Source: Connect Financial Services Brokers

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