Work starts on Financial Advice NZ plan

Work is under way in earnest to draw up a plan for Financial Advice New Zealand.

Wednesday, March 1st 2017, 6:00AM

by Susan Edmunds

The consultation stage of the planning process has concluded with a series of forums held around the country.

The working group said there had been some clear themes expressed in the consultation stage, including a desire to focus on increasing public awareness and understanding of advice and the role of advisers in helping New Zealanders be better off, a wish to focus on advocacy and standards and the need to tightly define the role of Financial Advice New Zealand in the wider industry, and focus on a smaller number of core areas to better support members and the public's access to advice.

“The working group has compiled all views and comments from the consultation events held since November 2016 to build a comprehensive picture of the priorities and perspectives. These are now being drawn on to build the Financial Advice New Zealand Plan,” said PAA president Bruce Cortesi.

The Financial Advice New Zealand Plan will outline the role and functions of the new body to achieve the key objectives highlighted during the consultation stage. These will underpin the constitution of the new association.

“This is the stage that we get into the detail: what Financial Advice New Zealand will do to support members in the changing world of financial services; how we will increase public understanding of advice and the role of advisers in helping more New Zealanders be better off; the clearly defined and relevant value of membership; the functions the new body will perform in key areas such as public awareness, advocacy (lobbying) and standards; the best structure to support the needs of advisers, and more,” said IFA president Michael Dowling.

The plan is scheduled for completion on April 4.

The working group will then move on to the operations stage of development, looking at personnel, systems and location. That is set to be complete by May 5.

Tags: Financial Advice New Zealand