The Finance Broker Association of Australia (
FBAA) has revealed ambitious growth plans for its student membership in 2016.
Speaking to
Australian Broker, the chief executive of the FBAA, Peter White says attracting new student members will be a focus for the association this new year, with plans to triple its student membership numbers.
“For the FBAA what we are doing in our student membership and our engagement there will be a key focus area. We have been putting in some fairly significant planning and strategy,” White said.
“Our goal is to put on another 2,000 students which will bring us to a student membership of 3,000 by the time we get to the end of the year.”
According to White, the association’s plan to attract new student members extends beyond just engaging with students themselves.
“There is quite a significant engagement process we are going through with our current base and also our new base as they come in. Once it is all signed off I can talk about this further, however, it is a very important strategy for us because it is not just about talking to students.
“We are going out to our members and asking them if they have children who are interested in joining the industry and telling them how we can help and what we have to offer to help their children be the brokers of the future.”
White also revealed other top priorities for the association this year will focus on the regulatory space with ASIC’s forthcoming reviews into interest-only lending and remuneration.
“I have a meeting coming up with ASIC to start to fill in a few blanks and see where things are headed. From the association’s point of view, we want to ensure good and close relationships are happening there to be sure things are going down a path that is reasonable. ASIC has to do their job, as does any regulator, but we want to make sure things keep well focussed.”
White remains confident about the forthcoming ASIC probes, saying he doesn’t expect them to result in any sweeping changes.
“It would be different if the industry was in turmoil and it was hopelessly rotten and falling apart. If the world was bad you would expect a lot of changes but the world isn’t bad so I don’t expect there will be a lot of changes,” White said.
He is hoping, however, that there will be changes to LMI disclosure. Last year, White argued that the government needs to act on upfront LMI disclosure and include public disclosure in the Key Fact Sheet.
Whilst it has been held up by “ministerial issues” White told
Australian Broker that he is confident those changes will be implemented this year.
