FPA the No. 1 industry association: poll

A Professional Planner online survey has shown how significant the Financial Planning Association (FPA) is as an adviser representative body.

The survey, which asked advisers if they considered the FPA, the Self-Managed Superannuation Fund Association (SMSFA), the Association of Financial Advisers (AFA) or “other” as their main association, revealed 60 per cent of advisers felt most aligned with the FPA (see below survey A).

Among respondents, 22 per cent of advisers indicated that the AFA was their primary association, while 9 per cent chose the SMSFA.

In May 2013, Professional Planner posed the same question to advisers. The SMSFA was then known as the SPAA (see below survey B).

The two unscientific surveys – five years apart – show an almost perfectly inverted result at the top; while 60 per cent of advisers said the FPA was their main industry association this year, 60 per cent indicated that the AFA was their primary representation in 2013.

SPAA/SMSFA registered 9 per cent in the latest survey, a rise of 2 percentage points on its 2013 result.

The AFA, founded in 1946, is Australia’s oldest financial adviser association and is led by chief executive Philip Kewin. The FPA, led by chair Neil Kendall and chief executive Dante De Gori, was founded in 1992 and describes itself as “Australia’s leading professional association for financial planners”.

The FPA’s latest annual report states that its membership grew by 4 per cent in the 2017 financial year.

Survey A –  May 2018

Survey B – May 2013