The Institute of Financial Advisers will take force from the conference in mid-2006, says interim chief executive Ross Butler.

The change is for a number of reasons and has been in the offing for a while, says Butler.

“The FPIA name has tended to perpetuate the differences from five years ago,” he says, harking back to the merger between financial planners and insurance advisers.

“One of the things we’re keen to foster is needs based advice, and for financial advisers to know their clients’ needs and meet those needs, whether they are investment or insurance related.

“The second reason is it’s a long bloody name.” Butler says the name change was in the planning process before the Task Force on Financial Intermediaries reported and the issue of professional groups becoming Approved Professional Bodies (APBs) under the new regime was raised.

“We actually registered the name, including the domain name, quite some time ago.”

Meanwhile the FPIA – as it will remain until next June – is talking with a number of other professional groups about APB status.

There have been talks of several groups joining forces but Butler says the existing professional bodies will still remain as discrete groups but will form organisations to act as APBs.

“We’re looking at a much wider approved professional body, quite distinct from the existing groups,” he says.