Most Influential: Ken Breakspear

Chiefexecutive officer of the Financial Planning Association (FPA), Ken Breakspear, has twice won a place onMoney Management’slist of Most Influential people.

This year, Breakspear was nominated for “establishing himself and the FPA as credible and influential forces”.

Panellist Stephen van Eyk says “... he has been doing good things, and he’s less defensive than some of his predecessors in terms of handling criticism”.

Breakspear says the FPA has been working hard on several fronts this year, particularly in helping its members make the transition to the Financial Services Regulation Act (FSRA) regime.

“The whole transition has been heavy going for many of our members, particularly the smaller dealers in understanding what the requirements are and then transitioning to the new regime.”

The FPA prepared both an FSRA implementation kit and a Privacy Act kit, which Breakspear describes as generic tools that members can use to assist with compliance.

The FPA has also been vocal on the topic of national savings, commissioning the National Centre for Social and Economic Modelling (NATSEM) to conduct research into our national savings problems and to outline possible solutions.

In relation to the professional indemnity crisis, Breakspear says the FPA has done an enormous amount of work to find both long term and immediate solutions to the crisis, establishing a taskforce and holding round table discussions with stakeholders to find a permanent solution to the problem.

“We are trying to look for more stability and equilibrium — to make sure members gain access to cover at a reasonable premium.”