The new professional association, to represent financial advisers, is being developed by the Institute of Financial Advisers and the Professional Advisers Association.

But to achieve the clout and scale it desires, it will need more than just the memberships of the two organisations to join. It will have to pull in some of the thousands of advisers who are not a member of any professional body at present.

After both the IFA and PAA memberships voted in favour of the establishment of the new association, work is getting under way in earnest.

The working group developing the association is holding a facilitation day on September 5 with Lester Levy, change management expert and chief executive of the New Zealand Leadership institute.

IFA president Michael Dowling said the day would be used to develop guidance on how to roll out plans for the new organisation.

He said other attempts had been made to set up similar organisations in the past but they had not been successful. Financial Advice NZ wanted to pick the brain of an expert to produce an organisation that could represent the various segments of the advice industry.

It has been suggested that the organisation could follow the same route as that chosen by the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment for the Financial Advisers Act review, with an issues paper followed by an options paper, and opportunities for consultation.

It is expected that by March 31 next year Financial Advice NZ will have a mandate, structure and constitution in place so that advisers can make a decision on whether they want to commit to membership of the organisation.

It is understood that if there is majority support among the IFA and PAA memberships, the organisation will be created and it is likely that the IFA and PAA will then be wound up.

Key to Financial Advice NZ’s success will be how well it taps into the registered financial adviser market. They are underrepresented in adviser bodies but are set for a large amount of change under the new version of the Financial Advisers Act.

Dowling said Financial Advice NZ had had informal discussions with a range of industry associations, including the general insurance brokers’ association IBANZ, but formal discussions would start after September 5.