Planners back merger of FPA and AFA
The time may be right for formal merger talks between the Financial Planning Association and the Association of Financial Advisers, according to a Money Management survey.
The survey revealed that the majority of planner respondents believe they should be represented by a single organisation resulting from a merger between the two dominant bodies – the FPA and AFA.
The survey sought to gauge the views of advisers following yesterday’s announcement from the FPA that it would be restructuring in the face of declining adviser numbers – a process which resulted in eight redundancies.
It found that out of the over 80% of respondents who wanted to be represented by a single body, 95% said they would expect the merger of the FPA and the AFA.
Of those who welcomed a broader representation for the financial planning community only one third had said they believed there was still room for the establishment of a new adviser representative body.
Asked how they believed the FPA and AFA were currently serving their needs – 72% of respondents said they were dissatisfied with the FPA compared to 51% for the AFA.
At the same time, there was strong consensus among respondents (92%) that there were too many organisations seeking to represent them.
Around the half of those who participated in the survey identified themselves as current members of the FPA and less than 30% said they were members of the AFA and only 8% said they were currently represented by both organisations.
AUTHOR
Oksana Patron
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