Rod Severn, his counterpart at IFA, Fred Dodds, and the two presidents of the organisations, Michael Dowling and Bruce Cortesi, held a series of sessions with members of the IFA and PAA around the country last week to discuss their proposal for a new adviser association.

Severn said the feedback from members had been positive. “There was a good turnout in each location and nobody came into the meeting with any negative ideas.”

He said some members had wanted more detail than was available at this stage. “Some said they think it’s a good idea but they can’t give a view until we can give more detail in the future. All we are asking for at the special general meeting is to approve the creation of Financial Advice New Zealand.”

He said, once that hurdle was passed, he and Dodds would have the job of working out the mechanics of the set-up, including its constitution, budget and structure, which could take six to nine months to achieve.

“I was expecting a bit more pushback than we got but everyone was positive, so I’m delighted. I’d be bitterly disappointed but also incredibly surprised if we didn’t get a positive vote based on what we saw in those groups.”

Members will be given the chance in a month's time to vote on the proposal.

Dowling said the response had been positive at the sessions he was responsible for, too.

“We expected that the response would be largely positive, which it was, because that was the feedback we were getting via email. But we had people who said at the start they were not comfortable with what was being proposed but then said ‘you’ve won me over’.”

Dowling said everyone involved had made a point of not getting into the detail yet. Once the IFA and PAA members were on board, the goal would be to take the idea to the wider adviser community, he said.

Financial Advice New Zealand is being tipped as a more consumer-focused body, which is believed to be a move supported by the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment.