It's a little like the chicken and the egg - which came first, journalism or public interest? Did the journalist come first to ask the question they deigned was in the public interest or did they respond to the public interest?
Last weekend, a Sydney broadsheet newspaper published a profile on FPA chief Jo-Anne Bloch's first seven months in the chair. It featured an almost life-size photo of Bloch. It brought public attention to the human side of the FPA, what the person running it thinks about the state of financial planning in this country and how she is going to effect changes that will help the practitioners among her membership bring a better level of financial planning to the community.
It was interesting to devote so much space to an industry association and I wonder whether indeed it is public interest driven or editorially driven. Either way, it is a good thing to raise the profile of the association; to give it more ability to create the professional brand it seeks to establish within the mainstream of financial services.
According to Bloch, financial advisers are being overburdened by regulation and until the professional standards of the industry are raised, and are raised in the public's perception, the industry will continue to flounder.
Bloch says there is a need for ASIC to rethink the burden on planners and for the FPA to carve out a more decisive role in setting and enforcing professional standards. To get there, she plans to evoke selfregulation within the association, set educational standards and to set firm goals. It's good planning.
