Small dealers call off Sydney meeting
Theproposed meeting between a number of small dealer groups in Sydney next month has been postponed after concerns regarding the direction and nature of a proposed national executive body.
The meeting was planned for April 5 in Sydney with representatives of theAssociation of Financial Advisers(AFA), the Association of Independently Owned Financial Planners (AIOFP) and the Boutique Financial Planning Principals Group (BFPPG) attending.
However, the president of the BFPPG, Bruce Baker, says his group would not attend because there is concern among the group’s members that they would be linked to views that were inconsistent with the group.
He says the BFPPG has yet to fully understand what each group does and would like to achieve before it engages in a meeting to create a representative body.
“The BFPPG is happy to share views with other groups and we recognise that AFA and AIOFP are groupings of small business within the financial services sector, and so clearly there is some intersection of common interest,” Baker says
“However, we have yet to establish the precise intersection of interests and will consult widely within the BFPPG membership before forming any arrangement with other groups.”
AIOFP chief executive Peter Johnston stressed the original meeting was preliminary in nature and despite its cancellation, his group would still meet with Shadow Minister for Retirement Income and Savings Senator Nick Sherry on the day.
Johnston agrees there is a common thread of protecting the role of small planning groups held by the three bodies, with the AIOFP extending an open invite to small planners in the Sydney area to attend the meeting with Sherry.
He says it is not a recruitment push for the group but would present a consolidated front to promote the plight of smaller dealers to the senator.
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