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Jessica Darnbrough
The FBAA’s national president Peter White has responded to the findings of a recent poll that revealed the various industry bodies are losing their relevance.
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Mr White said while the recent poll conducted by The Adviser only surveyed the opinions of a small percentage of industry participants, it was still important to “listen and understand the concerns and feelings of people and not arrogantly dismiss them”.
“I understand it's hard at times to see what an association and its people do and I have been criticised in the past for not saying enough - I've never been one to blow my own trumpet so I find it difficult to regularly go on about all the things we do for our industry,” he said.
“It's for our industry and not just our members that we strive to make a better future for those operating within the finance sector.
“While not everyone will always agree with me and everything I say, that is fine as it would be a boring and useless world if we all simply agreed with each other.
“The FBAA has, for the past 20 years, been unquestionably loyal to the industry and its brokers. Our Board has always been made up of brokers and our motto has always been "run by brokers for brokers".
“At times, we have been likened to being a union for brokers. We are not a union, but we do endeavour to be true to our members and speak out against what we don't believe in and supporting that which we do.
“We always want to stand independently of the big banks, so that the voice for brokers isn't restricted or constrained.
“It is impossible for every individual broker to sit on ASIC or Treasury's industry stakeholders committees or have one-on-one meetings with the heads of regulators and politicians.
“This is where associations, in part, come into play. Brokers have businesses to run, associations deal with their issues and represent them to ensure the best possible outcome for the industry as a whole.
“The FBAA has been working with the government and ASIC for a long time to make sure every decision that is made, is made with the brokers’ best interests in mind.
“One decision we had a hand in is the soon to be introduced disclosure statements for LMI. This was never provided in the past and the FBAA was the original voice pushing for this to be bought in.
“We are also presently looking at the portability of LMI and have had senior conversations with ministers to see what can be done in this regard.
“The future of our industry's existence is extremely important. The FBAA has been representing industry's views and needs with government and regulators for a long time.
“Additionally, the FBAA seeks to bring various value add services and products to its members such as discounts for RTO training, the highest level of education on AML/CTF Training, and a host of services and products through our TFP co-operative, which will have its formal launch in April.
“So, there are many things the FBAA does for its members as well as industry, some visible some not so.
“At the end of the day, we are here for brokers around Australia and we appreciate the results and feedback from polls such as these.”
