Industry

In between night missions in the Afghan desert, Warren Loudon would complete his financial planning assignments on a handheld ‘tough book’. “When I got back to base I’d submit them,” he recalls.

Implementing the current proposal for ‘experienced’ advisers to skip the relevant degree mandate will do far more harm than good, the association argues, with both current and future advisers turned off by the plan.

As the quantum of advisers has decreased those that remain have consolidated client books, which has led to a higher proportion of high-balance SMSFs coming under advice.

Anthony Wamsteker reflects on the tie-up with rival platform Powerwrap, the rebuff of Netwealth, and Praemium’s plan to achieve double digit market share.

The two fundies were among the major winners at the Australian Alternative Hedge Fund Awards in Sydney on Thursday night, with the event celebrating its 18th year in marking the best alternative managers in the country.

The inability of major casino operators – and many other ‘respected’ professions – to run a clean sheet is galling for an advice industry beset with stifling levels of regulation.

Positive flows negated an almost ten per cent drop in the ASX/S&P200 over H1 2022, with total funds increasing another $3.4 billion.

With 127 practices under its wing, the tie-up between Kon Costas’ ex-BT network and Deakin University will give 1,263 advisers a direct line to graduates and add an element of scale to what is currently a skinny pipeline of talent.

CEOs at the soon-to-merge associations say the two groups have become more aligned over the years. AFA members are no longer die-hard ‘riskies’, and the FPA membership base has come a long way from its institutional adviser roots.

As romantic as it may be to proclaim the emergence of an advice profession and to suggest that a ‘good advice’ duty is a panacea for systemic failures, the retreat of institutional licensees from advice is not necessarily evidence of our capacity for self-regulation.

Prompted by advice industry rationalisation, the Levy review and the need for a united voice in Canberra, the two major associations will invite members to provide feedback on a proposed merger.

Advice is set for a dramatic shift towards deregulation, with the Levy proposal paper sketching a plan to ditch statements of advice and best interest duty in favour of a new “good advice” directive.