FPA welcomes Frydenberg education stance

Responding to comments the assistant treasurer made in the Australian Financial Review last week, FPA chief executive Mark Rantall said it is “encouraging” that Mr Frydenberg is supporting the need to lift professional, ethical and educational standards.

“As we all know, last year was certainly a trying time for our profession,” Mr Rantall said. “There was ongoing uncertainty and more than a fair share of turbulence.”

“But from this has emerged great opportunity – to shape the future of financial planning and advance our journey towards becoming a respected profession.

“In order to do this, we need to come together as a profession but we also need to have government and regulation working towards the same goals to create real change and ensure that professional financial planners are recognised for the important community service they provide,” he said.

Mr Rantall also supported the directive from Mr Frydenberg that those in resistance to the proposed standards from the parliamentary inquiry into adviser standards and the FSI need to keep “an open mind and recognise the need for change”.

“We welcome the fact that today’s article and similar conversations in the public domain keep the spotlight firmly on education and professional standards – as it will be for some time,” Mr Rantall said.

“The [FSI], senate inquiry into the performance of ASIC and most recently the PJC inquiry into education and professional standards, have widely supported the measures we called for in our submissions, and in the FPA 10 Point Plan – these measures are critical to building trust with consumers.”

“We echo Mr Frydenberg’s call to capitalise on industry momentum and put in place an enduring co-regulatory framework” he said.