EDITORIAL

UP FRONT | EDITORIAL

Long time between drinks

It’s been a long time between drinks and in this case issues of ASSET Magazine. The whys and wherefores are many and quite varied. Rather than dwell on the past it is more useful to look to the future.

Due to many factors our plan is to produce ASSET on a quarterly basis for the foreseeable future.

While we are scaling back the frequency of the ASSET we have also been putting significant energy into rebuilding Good Returns. The site was built more than 20 years ago and in that time technology has changed.

Instead of fixing up old pieces, the site is getting a total rebuild. While much of this work is behind the scenes and won’t be visible to readers, there will be a new design.

It’s an exciting project and will let us provide even more news and content to financial advisers.

The financial services industry seems to be in an interesting space at the moment.

On the funds management side everyone from managers to investors and advisers are grappling with massively changed markets. Negative returns, rising interest rates, geopolitical issues and of course the regulator.

On the latter point many should be concerned about the Financial Markets Authority’s “Value for Money” report. There are some good things in it particularly around benchmarks being used by fund managers.

However, its position on fees, especially trail commission paid to advisers offering KiwiSaver should be ringing alarm bells.

Many managers, including Generate, Booster, AMP and NZ Funds have actively worked in this area.

The FMA’s fixation on fees seems to ignore the value of advice. If an adviser ensures a KiwiSaver members is in the correct fund rather than loitering in a default fund, then that has to be a good client outcome which the adviser should be paid for?

In our news section we have a piece on the winners of this year’s Mindful Money Ethical Investment Awards. Good Returns is proud to be a partner to these awards.

Our next issue will focus on responsible investing. While there is good progress in developing new fund offerings it seems the advice sector is lacking in its growth in this area.

This is despite a growing demand from investors.

One thing we have noticed over the years is that responsible investing stories we run now are far more widely read than, say, five years ago.

It really is time that financial advisers become more active in this area. Clients are demanding changes and the managers are responding by providing a greater offering.

Philip Macalister Publisher

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ASSET is published by Tarawera Publishing Ltd (TPL). TPL also publishes online money management magazine Good Returns GoodReturns.co.nz and TMM – The Mortgage Mag. All contents of ASSET Magazine are copyright Tarawera Publishing Ltd. Any reproduction without prior written permission is strictly prohibited. ISSN 1175-9585

SIFA takes new approach to adviser conference

Adviser association, SIFA, has decided to open up its conference to non-members this year.

Traditionally SIFA ran two conferences annually, but this year it has decided to trial a new format of a two-day conference and to open it up to non-members.

SIFA was established in 1994 and has built its membership around collegiality with members openly sharing deas.

“SIFA has always viewed itself as a ‘society’ where members can freely contact each other to exchange ideas, provide assistance and encouragement in a nonjudgemental environment,” chairman Ross Sheerin says.

“SIFA is quite deliberately not a ‘mass member’ organisation. It’s membership numbers have generally ranged between 45 and 85. Not being large provides scope to get to know other members and makes conferences less formal, less of a crowd event and easier paced.

He says membership has traditionally been drawn from owners or associates in smaller advice practices that are not owned by product providers or who do not manufacture product themselves.

“Members being able to offer impartial financial advice has always been a key tenet.”

Indeed the group’s original name was the Society for Independent Financial Advisers, but changed to SIFA after the Financial Advisers Act included a definition of the word ‘independent’ as it applied to the provision of financial advice.

Sheerin says while the name has changed its mission has not to assist members “to provide the public with impartial financial advice while upholding the highest professional and ethical standards”.

SIFA has been active for many years in being an advocate for the ‘small end of town’ when it comes to forming regulation of the financial advice profession.

In particular, former members Murray Weatherston and Robert Oddy spent countless hours poring over consultation papers, forming and promoting views about what sort of regulatory environment we could sustain while allowing advisers to still be able to run a profitable advisory business at a reasonable cost to clients; plus, meetings with industry participants; meetings with regulators; writing submissions; presenting at select committees and advocating in industry forums.

This year non-members are being given the opportunity to attend a SIFA Conference.

For more information visit www.sifanz.org or email the secretary secretary.sifa@gmail.com