Helmich: FPA to stick to its guns on planner conflicts

The departing chair of the Financial Planning Association (FPA) has sent a strong signal to the association’s members that it is planning to stay on course with reforms to clean up the conflicts of interests faced by advisers.

After serving a little over two years in the position, AMP’s director of advice based distribution Steve Helmich is due to hand over the reigns to new chairperson elect Kathryn Greiner at the association’s annual general meeting next month.

In an interview with Money Management ahead of his impending departure, Helmich was confident about the future of the FPA, particularly the decision to leave it in the hands of Greiner, who will be the association’s first independent chair.

Helmich says repositioning the FPA as a professional association and not a trade body, refocusing the FPA around its services to all its members and witnessing the growth in CFP numbers have been the personal highlights of his time as FPA chair.

“I encouraged her [Greiner] to come on the board first of all. She’s the sort of person who once she says ‘yes’ will put in a 110 per cent effort. She’s going to come into the job with vigor and put her style into it,” Helmich says.

Since he took over as chair on August 1, 2002, the FPA has witnessed a mass exodus of staff and in March this year announced it expected to post a $2 million loss for 2004.

But Helmich told Money Management the FPA’s finances are now “well in order”, particularly as a result of the outsourcing of its entry level education program to listed education provider Tribeca in May.

“We’re planning for a surplus this year. It’s already in our strategic plan for the year and we believe we’ll deliver on that,” he says.

Helmich says a priority for him before he leaves the chair will be to assist in the formulation of the association’s new conflict of interest guidelines.

“We want [clients] to know that they’re getting good advice, how much the advice will cost now and into the future and anything at all that might be influencing the financial planner in their selections, based around consumer needs.”

Meanwhile, FPA chief executive Kerrie Kelly is remaining tight lipped on the specific details of the guidelines for members, refusing to provide a date for when they will be released.

“We’re at the stage where they are concepts rather than details. It’s always the devil in the detail of the wording,” she says.

Kelly says the details, when released, will go “well above” existing ASIC legislation on conflicts of interest, stating that they will probably form part of the FPA’s code of conduct, which if breached, will result in heavy fines or expulsion from the association.

Helmich says: “[The guidelines] are a clear move to the FPA becoming a more professional association and part of that is to continually increase the requirements for members.

“If they don’t live up to those requirements, they’ll be thrown out.”