At least one dealer group is poised to leave the FinancialPlanning Association (FPA) after restrictions on the use of its Certified Financial Planner (CFP) brand are scrapped on July 1.
After that date, it will no longer be a requirement that the CFP brand be used only by planners employed by an Australian Financial Services (AFS) licensee that is a principal member of the FPA.
Last week, WA-based dealer group Wealthsure sent a notice to its 165 authorised representatives ($1.8 billion in funds under management) that said it is considering leaving the FPA after July 1.
Chief executive Darren Pawski said the planners were asked for “feedback on the perceived impact on their businesses of any Wealthsure decision not to renew its FPA membership when it falls — due shortly after July 1”.
Pawski said the group is “seriously considering our membership status” of the FPA after the deadline on the basis that the changes “give us real choice as a value proposition whether or not to belong to the association”.
He said the Wealthsure executive “questioned whether the FPA constituted a sufficient value proposition for us to retain our membership once the CFP restrictions were scrapped”.
The group currently belongs to another industry association, which Pawski said “provides a more material service for the needs of our group and our individual members”.
He said other dealer groups would be “tempted to follow Wealthsure’s lead, if indeed we do terminate our membership, but they might hold back as a matter of credibility”.
“It might be that their planners would prefer to be able to tell clients that their dealer group is a member of the FPA, regardless of their individual status as a certified planner.”
He added that he had “established from the FPA last week that individual CFPs would not be disadvantaged in terms of status and costs by a decision of their dealer group to quit the FPA as a principal member”.
“I was told they will maintain their CFP status irrespective of whether their dealer group retains FPA membership, and they will continue to pay basically the same amount in fees as a practitioner member of the association.”
FPA chief executive Jo-Anne Bloch was travelling at the time of this report going to press, and therefore unavailable for comment.
