A changing of the guard at IFSA

The firstthing you notice about Richard Gilbert is that he is not Lynn Ralph.

That might sound like stating the obvious, but as Ralph prepares to hand over the reigns of the Investment and Financial Services Association (IFSA) to Gilbert after the association’s annual conference in Brisbane later this month, it is the differences that are more than skin deep that are likely to stand out the most.

Ralph, who will leave the association to start her own business in the corporate governance field, has been IFSA’s only chief executive since it was formed in 1997. She has led the association in her own inimitably casual yet effective style, building the wider community profile required of a national industry association, while all the time remaining accessible to her membership.

She has done it all with a trademark smile, something not always typical in an industry that can be accused of often taking itself too seriously.

Meanwhile, Gilbert, as IFSA’s deputy chief executive, has been the association’s man in Canberra.

Most of his work has been done behind the scenes, building the association’s political stocks in the shadows of parliament house.

He seems to approach issues with a type of Machiavellian swagger, although without the menace usually attached to those who would manipulate public and political opinion.

He is comfortable using terms like political apparatchik, with only the slightest hint of sarcasm. He is not afraid to tell journalists what they should write and how they should go about writing it.

In essence, Gilbert comes across as a highly political animal, although he claims no particular political allegiance.

That is not to say that Ralph is not. It was her decision after all, when IFSA was formed, to send Gilbert to Canberra to build the relationships that have seen IFSA often punch above its weight in the policy debates that seem to constantly ensconce the financial services sector.

The difference is that Gilbert revels in the political process of public policy making as much as its end result.

“I do enjoy the advocacy process, and that process is something that will always be one of IFSA’s primary functions. The only difference will be that I will be required to lead that from now on,” he says.

“Advocacy is a hobby and I’m lucky enough to be able to get paid to pursue a hobby.”

With such comments, it is no surprise that Gilbert finds himself about to lead one of the country’s most influential lobby groups.

Gilbert actually started his career as a high school economics teacher after a youth spent in what were then the very working class suburbs of Balmain, Marrickville and Chester Hill in Sydney. He was, he says, the only kid in his street to go to university.

But the teaching career eventually gave way to life in Canberra, where he became the secretary of the Senate Select Committee on Superannuation at a time in the early 1990s when the compulsory superannuation regime we know today was coming to life.

From there, Gilbert joined CUSCAL Funds Management, before moving on to head up the Investment Funds Association (IFA), which eventually merged with the Life Insurance and Superannuation Association (LISA) and the Australian Investment Managers Association (AIMA) to form IFSA.

In many respects, despite what may be perceived as an obvious difference in personal style, Gilbert’s early days as head of IFSA are likely to mirror those of Ralph’s.

When Ralph first took on the role, her focus was very much on making the merger between IFA, LISA and AIMA work.

Now, with the announcement last month that the Australian Retirement Incomes Stream Association (ARISA) would be incorporated into IFSA, much of Gilbert’s attention will also be taken up by the need to bed down the merger between the two organisations.

That is likely to mean a greater focus by IFSA on the often unheralded topic of retirement income streams.

For Gilbert, that will be an opportunity to campaign on an issue that many financial service providers have been pushing for some time, growth pensions.

During the last election, the Government made it part of its official policy to conduct a review of growth pensions, a new type of pensions product that groups like IFSA would like to see gain complying income stream status.

But since then, the Government has steadfastly refused to set out a formal timetable for a review of the growth pension issue, saying only that any review will have to take a backseat to other more pressing concerns.

Not that that will stop Gilbert.

“The Government has to look at [growth pensions] in order to adhere to its election promise,” he says.

No doubt Gilbert will press this very point at the association’s annual conference where the Parliamentary Secretary to the Treasurer, Senator Ian Campbell, is on the guest list.

Also on the guest list will be the Shadow Minister for Retirement Incomes Policy, Nick Sherry, who should expect some pressing of his own over Labor’s opposition to the proposed cut in the superannuation surcharge rate.

IFSA will actually use the conference to release new research that shows that people with superannuation account balances of as little as $80,000 are paying the surcharge, further evidence Gilbert says of the need to cut the rate of the tax.

So is IFSA’s annual conference just an excuse to trap politicians into a situation where they will be forced to confront the issues that are foremost in the mind of the financial services sector?

It is in fact much more than that, Gilbert says.

“The conference is attended by industry leaders, leading public policy makers and those in the vanguard of independent criticism. When you have a chance to be exposed to these three competing sets of opinions, you are in an advantaged position to plan your business over the next 12 months,” he says.

It is not hard to see Gilbert in the background fanning these competing opinions, and enjoying every minute of it. IFSA, it seems, will remain in good hands.

IFSA’s annual conference will be held inBrisbane from July 31 to August 2.