A balancing act - Breakspear’s first year on the job

In his first year at the helm of the Financial Planning Association (FPA), Ken Breakspear’s focus has been both on the home front as well as on the big picture issues.On the home front, he has been working hard to ensure the core systems and management teams of the FPA are correct, and equipped to handle the high expectations of the association’s members.

“This year, our attention has been on getting our structures right and our teams right,” Breakspear says.

On the big picture side, Breakspear and his team have sought to address the key public policy issues facing the industry such as the Alienation of Personal Services Income (APSI) legislation and lobbying for the Financial Services Reform (FSR) Act.

Achieving a balance between these two roles is a continuing challenge for Breakspear as well as the key to being an effective FPA chief executive officer.

“There has always got to be a regulatory balance,” he says.

Breakspear says the ongoing challenge for the next 12 months will be to ensure a smooth transition to the new licensing regime, where it is hoped, regulation will strike a balance between compliance and enhancing the environment in which financial planners operate.

“We want to ensure members aren’t disadvantaged, especially for small business groups,” Breakspear says.

These smaller groups are of particular to concern to Breakspear because of the valuable range in services and prices they provide to clients, thereby enhancing competition within the industry.

Entry standards are also an area where stability is needed.

“Entry standards that are too high, will eliminate some quality participants in the industry,” Breakspear says.

Appointed as chief executive officer in October last year, Breakspear played a key role in the formation of the FPA almost a decade ago.

Prior to being appointed as chief executive officer, he held a number of senior roles in the association, including acting chief executive officer, senior manager for professional standards and general manager for policy and professional standards.

In the past year, the FPA has been involved in some significant public policy wins in both its lobbying activity with the Financial Services Reform (FSR) Act, and the amendments it negotiated earlier this year to the Alienation of Personal Services Income legislation.

“Getting the legislation amended so that members can self-assess was a big achievement,” he says.

Another of the FPA’s moves this year has been ramping up its national quality assessment program, which involves a self-assessment by financial planners as well as field visits by the association.

“We do field visits to assess compliance and skill levels and we will be reporting the outcomes of these at the [FPA] Convention, ” Breakspear says. The FPA plans to complete 80 of these visitations per year.

Breakspear describes his first 12 months in the job as both busy and satisfying. He considers an important factor in the success of the FPA has been the level of cooperation it has within the industry.

“There is a lot of grass roots interest and support in the FPA. Members have fairly high expectations of the organisation that represents them,” Breakspear says.

Breakspear describes his leadership style as collaborative, with his team working together on issues to achieve the best possible end result.

“I think we’ve achieved remarkable things over the past 10 years. Financial planning has got a foothold in terms of people understanding its unique value,” he says.

Breakspear says the adoption of financial planning by the larger institutions demonstrates the remarkable transition financial planning has made into the mainstream activities of the financial services industry. However, consumers he says are the real winners of the FPA’s initiatives.

“The FPA has been strong in setting standards and proper accountability,” Breakspear says. “In 1995, in a first for the financial planning industry, the association developed an independent dispute resolution scheme. Now this has become a universal scheme.”

Looking ahead, the FPA has put forward a proposal for modifications to its membership structure. If passed by members, the changes will come into effect on July 1, 2002.

Also this year, the FPA will introduce another external independent chair to the board. The existing independent chair, John Godfrey, will be joined by David Elsum. The current chairman, John Hewison will retire.

Breakspear says historically, the position of chairman of the board had an expiry date of one year. However, with the appointment of Godfrey as an independent chair, this effectively changes that dynamic and positions the association for another decade of growth.