Wednesday 28th of January 2009

As I mentioned in the previous Blog one of the big events of this year, and one which will set the scene for advisers, is the appointment of a commissioner of financial advisers. My view, and one shared by others, is that this person will set the tone for the industry and be a leading figure. So who should get the job? Well we have been trying to find out a bit more about what is happening with this process but are finding that the Ministry of Economic Development is being pretty uncooperative. We understand there is a short list of candidates and that an industry group has been set up to help. While we don’t expect to see the short-list, finding out who is on this committee shouldn’t be too hard. But it is. Coming back to the appointment, I would make this comment: The person who gets the job needs to be someone who has some knowledge of the advisory industry and its workings and it needs to be somebody who has a pragmatic approach to advisers. What we don’t want to see is a bureaucrat taking charge. Nor do we want to see some lawyer looking for a nice little earner to end their career on. I hear, unfortunately, that the short list has no-one with a lot of industry, or let’s say practitioner experience.  While we don’t want a lawyer or a bureaucrat, we likewise don’t want a failed financial planner! I was toying with the idea of running a poll like the Herald did to find the greatest New Zealander (Helen Clark won BTW). But I wouldn’t do that – unless of course you wanted to nominate someone!