Outgoing Stockbrokers and Investments Advisers Association chief executive Judith Fox urged advisers to work with the broader finance sector to overcome the critical challenges posed by ongoing technological changes and the growing threat of fraudulent activity.
Announcing her decision to leave her role after six years at the helm last week, Fox says she hopes her legacy will be ongoing industry collaboration among competing financial companies and brands.
“There is more to be done and my decision [to resign] was not taken lightly,” Fox tells Professional Planner.
“Ultimately, my view is there is a point where organisations need renewed CEO leadership and this should occur when performance is strong.”
Fox will stay on until the end of the year in the role until a replacement is found.
When asked what some of the worst she had seen in the advice profession, she says the vast majority of financial advisers are highly ethical and make an enormous positive difference to their clients’ lives, but as in any profession there are rogues and even fraudsters purporting to be advisers.
“In no other profession is the entire profession tainted by the actions of a few miscreants, yet any time there is misconduct in financial advice the inference is that all are guilty,” Fox says.
“The legal, medical and accounting professions all regrettably produce bad actors. So does the financial advice profession and usually it is either other advisers or licensees who call it out. There is much more to the best of the profession than the worst.”
In her role, Fox has focused on strengthening the voice of SIAA members, peer engagement, improving financial sustainability and delivering key advocacy outcomes.
Spending more time caring for her ageing mother prompted her to take the leap, admitting she has more she wants to do in her professional life. Fox, who authored two novels, indicated that she may write again.
“I’m still fit and healthy and you don’t know what will happen, and I don’t want to suddenly find myself not having done things I want to do,” she says.
“This job is seven days a week and every holiday you’re still working. While I’ve loved it, I’d like to volunteer for a few charities and offer my experience in advisory board roles.”
Reflecting on her time in the role, Fox says financial advice was a fragmented profession when she started.
“But the sector is now working very collegiately on a range of issues with the understanding that they are all facing the same regulatory challenges and technology issues.”
Fox has also been a driving force in changing the education pathway for advisers, advocating for removing the specialised financial planning degree as a prerequisite to gain entry to the profession and instead allow a bachelor’s degree or higher qualifications to count would help stem the industry’s decline.
“I feel like we’ve lost a generation of advisers, it would be great to open that pathway again so that mid-career professional who has a great degree can step into the industry,” Fox says.
“New entrant pipelines had completely collapsed, and if that was happening in any other profession it would be front page news. I’m really proud of the fact that there has been recognition that we need to get that pipeline working again, which means recognising people’s degrees so the ecosystem can thrive.”
Fox says scamming has become endemic with massive global criminal syndicates that have deep pockets operating.
“Everyone is working with regulators on that,” Fox says.
“I’m so proud of the fact that everyone has a sense of working together on the big important issues that have nothing to do with competition that provide a general uplift to our sector.”
She also laments the decline of initial public offerings (IPOs) on stock exchanges around the world as ASIC reviews the interplay between public and private markets which was in part triggered by the local decline of IPOs.
“Public markets aren’t thriving like they were,” Fox says.
“There are huge technological changes that will be ongoing now. But if we keep working together, we will be more likely to successful for many investors, and we want to see that continue.”
Fox intends to spend the coming months before she steps away from the CEO role working with member CEOs to improve gender balance within the profession.
“There’s no silver bullet and we all need to work together to resolve this issue, sharing information on what works and what doesn’t,” she says.
“Being an adviser is a wonderful career. It’s based on long term relationship building with clients to generate and preserve people’s wealth. There is deep passion and satisfaction among those working in the sector, but it’s largely an invisible career for many people. Let’s all work together to change that as it’s a wonderful career.”
