Australia’s two largest financial adviser bodies merged last week, bringing together the investment and insurance arms of the industry into a single entity.
Historically, the Association of Financial Advisers (AFA) and the Financial Planning Association (FPA) have broadly represented the interests of advisers focused in the respective insurance/mortgage, and investment sectors.
But dwindling Australian adviser numbers, cost pressures and growing alignment on regulatory issues between the two groups – that have often been at loggerheads in the past – triggered merger negotiations last year.
The new Financial Advice Association Australia (FAAA) industry body kicked off last week with over 13,000 members: just prior to the merger the FPA and AFA reported memberships of about 11,000 and 2,900, respectively.
Since 2019 until near the end of last year the number of registered financial advisers in Australia declined from 28,000 to 16,400.
In a statement FAAA deputy chair, Michelle Veitch, said the newly combined organisation “will speak with one strong voice for the vast majority of financial advisers in the Australian market, as we work towards ensuring better outcomes for advice practices and their clients.”
The Australian advice body merger comes five years after similar pressures saw three NZ financial advisory associations unite as Financial Advice NZ, which currently boasts about 1,500 members.
While various Australasian adviser industry bodies appear to have buried their differences in recent years as shared interests and economic factors take precedence, new fractures have emerged across the Tasman in the manufacturing side of the financial services sector.
Last year a group of breakaway Australian life insurers split from the Financial Services Council (FSC) to form a new industry body.
The Council of Australian Life Insurers has attracted almost 20 members since launch last June, although a handful of those are still also listed in the FSC membership roster.
Meanwhile, the FSC in NZ (not affiliated to the Australian body), which almost saw its life insurer members desert several years ago, has absorbed two other industry groups – Workplace Savings NZ in 2019 and the Health Funds Association the following year – to grow to over 100 members.