Intra-funds advice ruling a 'growth opportunity' for IFFP

Federal Government agreement for super funds to give limited intra-fund advice to their members represents a growth opportunity for Industry Fund Financial Planning, according to general manager David Haynes.

“It provides us with an opportunity for growth and we are all about integrating our advice offering with similarly aligned super fund offerings under the new rules.”

Haynes said the infrastructure of many of the larger funds would enable them to provide much of that intra-fund advice themselves, but there are “quite a number of funds that will look to the IFFP to provide some of the expertise associated with that service”.

“Indeed, we believe we will actually provide these services for some small to medium funds.”

He added that the “important thing would be for these funds to have appropriate referral mechanisms to make sure those people who need more significant advice get it”.

“If there is a gap in the product offering that industry funds can provide, or if a member has particular needs, which might be because they have a very high level of assets, we have a range of products on our approved product list to meet these needs.”

It is unlikely that IFFP would recommend a retail super fund to those industry fund members seeking more significant advice, he said.

“The way the market operates, and when you look at all of the league tables, both in terms of the short, medium and long term, it’s hard to see that a retail product dollar for dollar would offer the same sort of fee benefit or performance.”