In a webinar hosted by the Association of Financial Advisors (AFA), the organisation’s chief executive Phil Anderson has provided more details about the proposed merger with Financial Planners Association (FPA).
If the merger vote on 28 February received the required 75% of member votes in favour, the expected legal completion date would be 3 April, Anderson confirmed.
This would include implementation of the new name, new constitution, and new board of directors of the merged entity on that date.
The chair of the merged entity would be appointed by the FPA while the deputy chair would be decided by the AFA.
The chief executive of the new entity would be Sarah Abood, currently CEO of the FPA.
There was also a proposed new name in the works that would be announced shortly, Anderson stated.
“I can update you to say that there is a preferred name. We’re not in a position to announce that publicly yet but we hope to do that shortly,” he said.
“In taking on a new name, there are a lot of things that you have to get organized […] You need to have considered the company name, the business name trading name, websites, social media accounts and so on. That work is well progressed.”
Per discussions between the two financial planning bodies, the board of the merged entity would comprise of four AFA directors for a period of three years effective from legal completion, alongside eight FPA directors.
Addressing the 1:2 ratio, Anderson added: “Look, people have asked us the question about [the ratio]. I think membership numbers suggest that we are less than half the size of the FPA. So, we’ve actually done fairly well in getting those four directors there.”
In keeping with the merger timeline, existing members should receive invitations to join the merged entity by mid-April and would have almost two months (till 15 June) to accept the invitation.
I’ll be voting NO. Why do I want this new body to go to Treasury and say they represent XYZ number of Advisers (me) and that they’re happy with proposals that will shaft Australians and may just result in the Advice from Super funds driving me out of business.
The Quality of Advice reforms will be the single major impact on the supply of Advice for the next decade. What we’re seeing is concessions being made to product manufacturers like Super Funds. This is the return of the Banks. We’re not learning anything from the past. There are no discussion about concessions being granted to actual holistic Advice firms. Very little attempt to change the bad legislation that has impacted Advisers and failed Australians. The FPA has this cultural mentality of trying to represent all parties in the supply chain and be all things to all people which has failed the Advice industry. Why merge with that thinking. Why merge with an entity that is looking at UniSuper, AwareSuper, TelstraSuper and thinking they’re the members of the future. No thanks…