AMP claims Aussie first with adviser app
The Evolve iPad app has been made available to AMP Financial Advice Network (FAN) advisers after an 18-month development process, which the financial services giant claims is a first for the local market. The app, which features advice tools that are fully integrated with advisers’ back-office systems, will be monitored with a view to making
February 05, 2013
Good help is hard to find: independent
Months of frustration spent looking to employ a senior financial planner could have some practice principals pining for their annual holiday, but for one independent operator, the experience has invoked the spirit of the early Contiki Tours. Last year, Professional Planner Online revealed the plight of Matthew Ross, an independent financial adviser with Roskow Independent
January 31, 2013
Manage conflict and you’ll be bulletproof: ASIC
The conflict of interests provision under the Future of Financial Advice (FoFA) reforms is a clear recognition by the regulator that consumers have no idea whether their financial adviser is independent or tied to a distribution channel. It follows, therefore, that clients can’t be blamed for failing to recognise the differences between a glorified salesman
January 22, 2013
Can financial planning survive the recovery?
One of the odd things about financial planning is that the public’s confidence in its practitioners is lowest when investment markets are firing (“Why do I need to pay someone to do this?”). However, it’s just as low when investment markets have tanked (“Planners – what are they good for if they didn’t see this
January 22, 2013
NAB planners divided on FoFA change, union acts
National Australia Bank’s NAB Wealth and MLC have defended an internal restructure of the bank’s overarching financial planning strategy that has drawn criticism from the Finance Sector Union (FSU). The union says its members have expressed a number of concerns, with most centering on planned alterations to the remuneration model for financial planners. In November
January 14, 2013
Conflicted remuneration: the heart of FoFA
The Australian Securities and Investments Commission’s Peter Kell, the Financial Planning Association’s Dante De Gori and Westpac financial planner Louise Lakomy discuss the finer points of conflicted remuneration. Professional Planner and the Financial Planning Association of Australia (FPA) have produced a series of videos on “Bulletproof financial planning” – a financial planner’s guide to complying
January 10, 2013
Lead or get out of the way
Congratulations to the Financial Planning Association on turning 20 last month, celebrated by a five-city tour featuring technical workshops and recognition of the association’s best and brightest. More importantly, congratulations on the massive transformation the FPA board has achieved, and is in the process of continuing, for the association’s 10,000 members. To download a full
December 13, 2012
An open discussion on professionalism
Professional Planner’s editorials and cover story on the role of the Financial Planning Association (FPA) and the Association of Financial Advisers (AFA) in professionalising financial planning prompted a significant response from readers. Many responses have been in the form of private correspondence with the authors. Not all responses are fit for publication, but where a respondent
December 13, 2012
2012: The year in review
What would a year in financial planning be without a healthy dose of regulatory uncertainty, complaints about the regulator and the banning of a handful of financial planners? The year just past is no different in this respect, but it was also a year when the industry demonstrated its remarkable resilience – when great businesses
December 13, 2012
Bulletproof financial planning in a FoFA world
The future of financial advice is almost here Professional Planner and the Financial Planning Association of Australia (FPA) have produced a series of videos on “Bulletproof financial planning” – a financial planner’s guide to complying with the new FoFA rules, and how adhering to the FPA’s code of professional practice can help negotiate a potential minefield.
December 12, 2012
Trulity issues challenge to “expensive” planners
A financial planning service has thrown down the gauntlet to the industry by offering consumers an online platform that is priced from a capped $27 per month. The Trulity financial planning service uses an online subscription fee model - with no asset based fees and no commissions – with principal Bill Kruger suggesting advisers have failed to connect with the wider community.
December 11, 2012
