AFA calls for collective voice

The Association of Financial Advisers (AFA) chief, Richard Klipin (pictured), has called on the financial services industry to create a united message for consumers next year, following the launch of a new group called the Australian Financial Integrity Network (AusFin).

Klipin said the industry needed to better articulate the value of what advisers deliver to consumers, which would eventually address issues such as savings inadequacy and underinsurance.

Klipin’s call followed the recent launch of AusFin, which counted the Industry Super Network, Choice and the Australian Council of Trade Unions among its members.

He noted the advice profession had experienced volumes of negative media reporting over the past few years and a concentrated industry funds advertising campaign that, “by extension, discredits all members of the advice profession”.

“This has fuelled an unfair perception that collectively all advisers are opaque and self-motivated and worse, untrustworthy,” he said.

“Collectively, we have the resources to demonstrate that advisers are open, honest, care about their clients and provide enormous value to them,” Klipin added.

Both the AFA and the Financial Planning Association are planning to launch their respective marketing campaigns next year, which aim to increase the confidence and the take-up of financial advice among consumers.

Klipin said the industry needed to help consumers address the issues they faced, including savings and retirement savings inadequacy, as well as chronic levels of underinsurance.

“2011 is when a lot of the [Future of Financial Advice] reforms are going to come into the drafting stage, and that’s really the time when we start to see where the consultation process has ended up,” Klipin said.