The Insurance and Investment Advisers Association (IIAA) has formally agreed to form a new adviser association to be called the Financial Planning and Insurance Advisers Association (FPIAA).
President David Milner says the IIAA's annual council meeting passed three remits to form the new association at its annual meeting on Saturday.
While the remits were passed with the necessary 75 per cent majority, some votes were cast against the proposal.
Milner says he is "very pleased" with the result as "there was an element of apprehension about the final outcome of the vote."
"The board was able to persuade the council that the new professional body was the vehicle the association could use to take its members into the 21st century."
Milner says several changes were made to the three remits. The most contentious one related to the IIAA surplus on wind-up.
The council decided all the IIAA's cash reserves, less the seed capital required to establish the new association, would be transferred to the FPIAA's college of investment advisers.
That sum is likely to total about $125,000, he says. As a result members of that college won't be levied for some years.
The IIAA's fellow association, the Association of Investment Advisers and Financial Planners (IAFP), is due to vote on its involvement in the FPIAA at a special meeting in October.
Originally it was due to vote on the proposal last week, however that meeting was postponed as it was still waiting to formally hear whether the United States-based Certified Financial Planners Board of Standards would agree to transfer the licence for the Certified Financial Planner (CFP) designation to the FPIAA.
It is understood the Board of Standards will conditionally endorse the transfer. While the conditions have not been revealed both the IIAA and IAFP say they can meet the CFP board's demands.
One relates to the relativity between the CFP designation and the Chartered Life Underwriters (CLU) designation used by the IIAA.
Milner says the two designations will be have equal standing, however CFP will be exclusive to the FPIAA's college of financial planners and the CLU will be the domain of the risk-orientated college of investment advisers.
Milner is hopeful the IAFP will support being part of the new organisation. However, if it decides not to proceed with forming the FPIAA, the IIAA go it alone and implement most of the changes proposed for the FPIAA.
He says there is a growing need for greater professionalism in the industry, and the structure of the new association, including its constitution, code of ethics and education, would help the association meet that demand.
The Insurance and Investment Advisers Association (IIAA) has formally agreed to form a new adviser association to be called the Financial Planning and Insurance Advisers Association (FPIAA). 