Your IndustryNov 20 2017

WMA merger with Apfa cost £61k

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WMA merger with Apfa cost £61k

The Wealth Management Association spent £61,000 on its merger with the Association of Professional Financial Advisers.

This figure appears in the WMA's accounts, which cover the period before the two bodies merged to become the Personal Investment Management and Financial Advice Association.

Apfa and the WMA merged in June 2017 after both trade bodies' memberships voted in favour of the move.

The WMA accounts, which cover the year ending in May 2017, showed the trade body making an operating profit of £17,660.

But once the "exceptional costs" of the merger were taken into account it showed the WMA was made a loss of £34,457.

The WMA received £1.87m in membership fees and £162,805 from workshops and seminars.

It increased the amount of money it made from conferences, workshops and seminars to push its turnover up by around £100,000 to £2.21m.

It had total expenses of £1.96m including £1.33m on staff costs, £194,853 on professional fees and £229,594 on property costs.

Pimfa currently employs 21 permanent members of staff, including two who joined from Apfa.

Its administrative costs went down by 3 per cent during the year because of a "rationalisation of office overheads".

At the time of the merger, Chris Hannant, the then-director general of Apfa, said one of the reason members of his trade body should back a merger with the WMA was to cut costs.

In 2015 Apfa posted a loss of £30,080 but it has since turned its financial position around and has reported a profit of £126,917 for 2016.

In 2016, the WMA made a lost of £25,000.The year before that it lost £282,000. 

damian.fantato@ft.com