AFA

“There’s so much pain, so much division on this one,” FAAA CEO Sarah Abood said of the proposed exemption. “It actually really upsets me, as I know it upsets many members.”

After years of declining membership bases and growing frustration with disparate representation, 96.5 per cent of AFA members and 96.7 per cent of FPA members voted in favour of a merger between the two groups.

The old guard of advice representation has implored the combined membership groups of the AFA and FPA to vote ‘yes’ in the upcoming merger vote.

The draft documents to be handed out in December will contain information members can use to assess whether a union between the two groups is the best way forward, FPA chief Sarah Abood tells The Inside Adviser.

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.

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.