New appointments to EQT wills and estate planning team
Growth in demand for its wills and estate planning business has seen Equity Trustees appoint two new recruits. Ms Catherine Elversson and Mr Andrew Woods have been appointed as estate planning solicitors reporting to Anna Hacker, national manager estate planning. They will be based in Sydney and Melbourne respectively. Ms Elversson comes from a private
May 27, 2014
Cbus, FPA financial advice partnership set to go national
Industry superannuation fund Cbus is planning a national roll-out of its financial advice partnership with the Financial Planning Association of Australia (FPA). The program currently remains in its pilot phase after being implemented in a limited capacity from January this year, as reported by Professional Planner: FPA to advise Cbus members. It will soon be available
May 26, 2014
Why membership matters, but membership structure matters even more
The question of which association you belong to might be about to get a whole lot more important. Is the one you belong to a “first-level” professional association, comparable the Law Society, the Australian Medical Association (AMA), the Institute of Actuaries or the Australian Veterinary Association? If the start of the Senate Economics Legislation Committee
May 26, 2014
More twists than an Agatha Christie novel, but this story deserves a good ending
The delay to the implementation of the FoFA amendments provides a welcome opportunity to pause and reflect. But Mark Rantall says that now it’s time to finalise the details once and for all. Australia’s Future of Financial Advice (FoFA) reform process has absorbed many hundreds of hours over several years, involving all sides of politics; the efforts
May 26, 2014
ABA continues to support FOFA
The Australian Bankers’ Association (ABA) said today that Industry Super Australia has misrepresented the banking industry around the FOFA reforms. Acting CEO of the ABA, Diane Tate, said the banking industry strongly supports the original policy intent of the FOFA reforms, including the best interests duty and the ban on conflicted payments. “The FOFA provisions
May 23, 2014
Meridien Wealth taking first steps on road to recovery from Commonwealth FP fallout
Before purchasing financial planning business Meridien Wealth in June 2012, managing director David Adiseshan was assured by the previous owner that the company was a “going advice concern”. Little did he know it would be implicated in a potential class action of up to $200 million by some 3000 investors in Commonwealth Bank of Australia
May 23, 2014
Key groups stake their claims in Future of Financial Advice amendments inquiry
Five key gaps remain in the regulatory framework for financial planners in Australia, according to the Financial Planning Association of Australia (FPA) white paper, The Future Profession, released yesterday. The paper was released following the FPA’s appearance at the Senate Standing Committee on Economics inquiry into the Corporations Amendment (Streamlining of Future of Financial Advice)
May 23, 2014
What if the sharemarket threw a party and nobody came?
Has a stock-market high ever been greeted with such indifference? The S&P 500 Index topped 1,900 last week while the FTSE 100 hit a 14-year record. Investors should be celebrating but in the main they’re looking nervously over their shoulders. What’s going on? The first hint that something might not be quite right is the
May 23, 2014
Balancing the use of discretion when implementing managed accounts
Financial planners wanting to operate managed accounts for their clients need to ensure their businesses are ready for, and aware of, the trade-offs involved, in order to meet growing client demand for investment control and flexibility. Some key questions you need to ask yourself revolve around effectively implementing discretion within client portfolios and determining how
May 23, 2014
Best Interests Duty also affects risk advisers
Regulatory changes over the past 18 months impact as much on risk advisers as they do on investment advisers, according to Jeffrey Scott, Executive Manager, InsuranceTech at CommInsure. Speaking at the Synchron conference in Anaheim earlier this month, Mr Scott said, “We have seen recently that the Best Interests Duty will have an impact on
May 22, 2014
Phil Kearns to depart as Chief of Centric Wealth
The recently acquired Centric Wealth announced today that Phil Kearns will be departing as CEO on 30 June 2014. Centric Wealth was acquired by Findex Australia Pty Ltd (Findex) in February of this year creating one of Australiaʼs largest non-aligned, privately-owned financial advisory businesses. Mr Kearns was appointed CEO of Centric Wealth by CHAMP Private
May 22, 2014
Revealed: the 2014 super fund of the year
The winners of the Chant West | Conexus Financial Super Fund Awards were announced last night in a ceremony at Ivy Ballroom in Sydney, with more than 300 guests in attendance. Awards were handed out across 10 categories, with the night’s biggest award going to REST for Super Fund of the Year, which was presented
May 21, 2014
