OpinionDec 3 2015

What exactly does Apfa do anyway?

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I have never really had much time for the Association of Professional Financial Advisers.

In my eyes, it lost a great big chunk of credibility when it decided to remove the word ‘independent’ from its title in late 2012, transmogrifying from the Association of Independent Financial Advisers to become Apfa.

Although it is easy to look back at the past through rose-tinted spectacles, I always preferred Aifa’s predecessor – the IFA Association – under the gung-ho, street-fighting Garry Heath; the Charlie Chan of the adviser world.

Apfa not as good as Aifa, Aifa not as good as the splendid IFA Association. Standards slipping all the time.

Mr Heath better than Paul Smee, the inaugural director general of Aifa. Mr Smee better than Chris Cummings, his successor. Mr Cummings better than Stephen Gay – who, when he wandered off to the Association of British Insurers in 2012, was replaced by Chris Hannant, the current occupier of the Apfa throne.

I am happy to stand corrected, but from the outside looking in, I have never quite understood what Apfa does all day long. Its flag-waving for the cause of independent financial advice has been at best limp.

I have never quite understood what Apfa does all day long. Its flag-waving for the cause of independent financial advice has been at best limp.

Indeed, I have heard more sound emanate from a dead dormouse than from Apfa’s corridors on Queen Anne’s Gate, London. Maybe its silence is explained by the fact that it does not want to upset its royal neighbours (Buckingham Palace is just up the road) for fear of being served with a noise abatement notice.

Certainly, unbiased and the Institute of Financial Planning – until it was unceremoniously swallowed up by the Chartered Institute for Securities & Investment – have been far more vocal in their support for independent financial advice, and as a result more successful in promoting its virtues.

Even VouchedFor, a commercial organisation, has done more to promote good independent financial advice than Apfa, with its TripAdvisor-like ratings system.

Apfa’s decision to muzzle itself explains why the dapper – and these days, slightly greyer – Mr Heath has resurfaced with a rival trade association called Libertatem, set up to represent financial advisers, planners and wealth managers.

“The representation of impartial advisers has been failing for the last 15 years,” it proclaims on its website (Mr Heath ended his tenure at the IFA Association 16 years ago). Libertatem, it adds, will provide “a clearer voice for adviser firms across the UK”.

Given Apfa’s monastic silence, it could have just as easily said: “a voice for adviser firms across the UK”.

It is early days for Libertatem, so it is too soon to judge whether it will supplant Apfa as “the voice” of the adviser. But I wish it well and it is making all the right noises – unlike the deathly silent Apfa.

Nearly two years ago, I attended 2plan Wealth Management’s national conference in Birmingham, at which Apfa’s Mr Hannant was one of the guest speakers. As you probably know, 2plan is one of the country’s leading IFA networks and a backer of Apfa.

Mr Hannant’s underwhelming speech that day went down like a proverbial lead balloon, raising questions among some delegates present as to whether Apfa was worth bothering with anymore.

Despite the debacle, 2plan has commendably stuck four-square behind Apfa, which explains why at this year’s national conference a speaking slot was given over to Lord Deben, the association’s long-standing chairman.

For those who do not know, in a previous life Lord Deben was John Selwyn Gummer MP, who as minister for agriculture in 1990 tried to publicly get his then four-year-old daughter Cordelia to eat a beefburger in an attempt to allay fears over the threat of BSE (bovine spongiform encephalopathy, or mad cow disease). She refused, so he took an almighty bite – and obviously survived the experience, hence his appearance at the National Exhibition Centre.

I was waiting for Lord Deben to bore me rigid and to do no more than reinforce my already entrenched opinion of Apfa as a waste of time and supporting advisers’ money. But he surprised me – he really did.

In a truly impressive speech (at least 10 times better than the one I made after him on pensions), he implored 2plan’s advisers to use the current government review of the financial advice market as an opportunity to demonstrate that independent financial advice is an imperative part of the personal finance jigsaw. That we need more of it, not less of it. Personal financial advice, not impersonal advice delivered through computers (so called robo-advice), is the only way to close the advice gap.

Rather than sit on their hands and moan that everything is stacked against them – a hostile regulator, an unfriendly Financial Ombudsman Service, mounting FSCS costs – Lord Deben urged the audience to fight back.

Advisers, he said, should get their clients to write to the Financial Advice Market Review team as a matter of urgency and tell them how professional advice has transformed their financial lives for the better.

Yes, simple advice from Mr Deben, but at the same time quite brilliant.

So, if you have a spare minute in between dealing with compliance visits and fending off the ombudsman, may I suggest you get as many of your clients as possible to feed into the FAMR. And feed in yourselves as well. Do not be bashful.

The deadline is looming – Tuesday 22 December – so time is of the essence. Clients can email their personal testimonies through a form available at www.fca.org.uk/famr-response.

Alternatively, they can write directly to the FAMR secretariat at: Financial Conduct Authority, 25 The North Colonnade, Canary Wharf, London, E14 5HS.

Do not miss this chance to wave a flag for independent financial advice. For once, Apfa has broken its vow of silence and actually said something worthwhile.

Heed Lord Deben’s advice and ensure the FAMR team know that what you do should be encouraged, not regulated out of existence.

Jeff Prestridge is personal finance editor of the Mail on Sunday