The Personal Investment Management & Financial Advice Association is urging members to lobby MPs for better supervision of the industry and wider access to financial education in schools.
The trade body has written to advisers in a bid to whip up support for its first ever parliamentary day in January, where members will seek to raise the profile of their industry with policy makers.
Advisers are being urged to write to their MPs asking them to attend the parliamentary day or lobby them in person in their own constituency.
The call for action comes as Pimfa pledged to change public misconceptions of the industry, which it warned was not "particularly well understood" and often coloured by the actions of "some who unfortunately give many a poor view of the industry".
The trade body said the day would not see representations about cutting regulatory red tape, rather it would be a call for the opposite, asking for better targeted supervision to avoid repeats of recent scandals such as the London Capital & Finance collapse.
Pimfa and its members will also be lobbying for greater incentives for saving and investment in the UK and a better consumer understanding of both the industry and the financial products on which it advises from an earlier age.
This will include calls for compulsory financial education in schools and financial "MOTs" for employees.
Simon Harrington, senior policy adviser at Pimfa, said: "This is a tremendous opportunity for the entirety of the Pimfa membership, for too long the investment management and financial advice industry has been an afterthought in the way in which policy is made in Westminster.
"Pimfa is committed to both promoting this sector as well as building a culture of saving and investment across the UK and in order to do this, we believe the best place to start this journey is in the corridors of the Palace of Westminster."
Liz Field, chief executive of Pimfa, said the parliamentary day was an opportunity for advice firms to send their upcoming generation of advisers to represent the profession and "tackle these issues as an industry together".
rachel.mortimer@ft.com
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