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Mercer has entered into an agreement with the Association of Independently-Owned Financial Planners (AIOFP) to provide research, market information and investment consulting advice to its members.
Mercer’s initial role will be to assist the AIOFP with the establishment and operation of its Filtered Research Committee (FRC), which is scheduled to launch in September.
Thereafter it will be engaged to provide ongoing investment consulting services to the FRC, subject to review in October this year, following its launch.
The FRC’s function will be to provide investment research and construct an approved product list for the AIOFP’s 160 member firms and 2,000 advisers.
The AIOFP announced its intention to establish the FRC earlier this year at the same time as the announcement of its intention to launch its Certified Financial Strategist (CFS) member designation.
AIOFP executive director Peter Johnston said the FRC would adopt the “best-practice formula of using an independent third party with no manufacturer ownership to provide information and recommendations to AIOFP members”.
“Our members will now have a world-class research facility in the form of the FRC, after many years of having little choice but to use the largely failed retail research sector.
“It would be fair to say the independently-owned market has lost faith in the retail research houses after years of poor product decisions and conflicts of interest.”
He added Mercer had been appointed because it has “primarily been a wholesale operator in Australia”.
Richard Everingham, principal and head of Mercer’s wealth management consulting services, will lead Mercer’s consultancy activities to the FRC.
Everingham said while Mercer will “attend FRC meetings in its capacity as a consultant to the AIOFP, it will have no voting rights, and the decisions of the FRC will be the responsibility of the AIOFP”.
The FRC will be chaired by independent research analyst Rob McGregor, formerly head of research at Morningstar.
