AFA winds up, FAAA reveals member count

The Association of Financial Advisers (AFA) has officially been wound up as of 30 June, with just under 60 per cent of its total member count said to have transferred to the merged entity, the Financial Advice Association Australia (FAAA).

In a statement on Tuesday, FAAA said, in total, it has already achieved over 8,700 membership renewals, with more to come.

“The end of the financial year is the first big milestone for membership. This year it was the critical date for wind up of the AFA, and many of our members prefer to pay in the previous financial year in any case, for tax reasons,” said FAAA chief executive officer Sarah Abood.

“By 30 June 2023, over 8,700 members, including over 80 per cent of eligible practitioner members, had renewed across both organisations.

“That such a large percentage of advisers have transferred or renewed their membership is a real vote of confidence in the newly formed FAAA,” Ms Abood noted.

FAAA revealed that AFA heritage members numbered 2,489 at the start of the renewal process across all categories. In total, 1,563 had transferred to FAAA as at the end of June, with 146 advising that they don’t plan to transfer.

The remainder includes duplicate members, members who have started the process but not yet completed it, and members who haven’t responded yet.

Ms Abood added that as AFA has officially wound up as of 30 June, those AFA members who have not transferred are no longer a member of any professional body and will not be receiving any membership services.

“We hear every day from AFA members who need some help in completing the move to a new portal, and some others who have been on leave. We will continue the offer to transfer and retain the membership start date for AFA members, on a similar basis as FPA heritage members, with a reminder that a late fee applies for renewals after 15 July,” Ms Abood said.

FAAA also shared more detail on the numbers for FPA heritage members, noting there were 9,693 FPA members in total eligible to renew, with 6,377 practitioners and another 761 non-practitioners said to have already renewed, for a total of 7,138.

“We encourage all members to renew as soon as possible. The more members we have, the more strength we have to create better outcomes for the financial advice profession,” Ms Abood said.

Renewal, she explained, is particularly important in advocacy, where there are plenty of issues on the FAAA agenda, including the “unreasonable hike” in the ASIC industry levy, the continuing consultation with the government on implementing the recommendations of the Quality of Advice Review, and the legislation of the experienced pathway.

“We are also very focused on regrowing our profession, with major campaigns highlighting financial advice as a great career choice planned for later this financial year,” Ms Abood said.

“Having a unified voice for the profession, representing the majority of financial advisers in the country, gives us a greater chance of achieving the changes our members are looking for.”

FPA and AFA announced they had completed their legal merger to form FAAA back in April.

The new, merged body has since been broadly welcomed by both sides of government, with Minister for Financial Services Stephen Jones applauding it for its “successful merger” which, he said, meant it now had a “strong” voice representing advisers throughout the country.

In a pre-recorded message delivered to the FAAA roadshow in May, he said: “There are around 5 million Australians who are either at or approaching retirement, they need access to good quality advice and information to guide them on that pathway. You’ve got a key role in doing that”.