Professional body sets-up Australian presence

The US-based financial planning body International Association of Registered Financial Consultants (IARFC) has established its Asia Pacific presence by setting up branches in both Australia and New Zealand.

Both operations are being headed by Bendigo-based RetireInvest planner George Flack, who has assumed the position of chief executive and has been a member of the organisation since 1997.

“During the past few years the IARFC began establishing itself throughout Asia in the Philippines, Malaysia, expanding to Thailand, Indonesia, Hong Kong, Macao, China, Greece and Canada,” Flack said.

“The IARFC (USA) board approached me in May 2006 and I said I would [accept the role of chief executive] if the headquarters could be established out of my Bendigo office with the assistance of several of my staff,” he explained.

In regard to the role the organisation will play in the domestic financial planning market, Flack was quick to emphasis that it was not the IARFC’s intention to threaten the Financial Planning Association’s (FPA) existence or standing.

“The IARFC has no plans to compete against the FPA but rather complement its role within the financial services industry. The FPA cannot be all to everyone in Australia and the IARFC sees itself as being able to provide the opportunity for members to gain a truly global access to its counterparts throughout Asia, Europe and the Americas,” he said.

To that end, he said the professional body was looking to recruit planners who wanted to lift the professional standards of financial advisers on a global basis.

“We’d welcome any qualified financial planners who want to meet others across the world in the same profession and want to contribute to the future development of a uniform code of conduct, ethics and standards aimed at satisfying clients’ financial requirements,” Flack said.

According to Flack, the organisation had not set itself any membership targets in the immediate term.

Currently, the IARFC is in the process of finalising the make-up of its Asia Pacific board, with progress on this front being stifled by illness experienced by some potential candidates.

Flack said once this had been done the body would begin trying to attract members, but did not see this stage of its development occurring before the final months of this year.