In a statement to Australian consumers everywhere, or at least that's what they would have no doubt hoped, ISN said: "Ongoing fees are a very expensive way to pay for financial advice and this is shutting out the four out of five consumers who do not seek financial advice whether from financial planners, accountants or super funds.
"The financial planning industry consistently asserts that the Future of Financial Advice (FOFA) reforms will increase the cost of advice and yet the only available evidence is that the cost of advice will reduce."
ISN's comments, released on 15 July, came a day after the FPA called for it to cease and desist with its tirade against the advice industry through advertising campaigns.
A day earlier, the advice association cried foul play over ISN's newspaper advertising that promoted a "fallacious argument that many retail fund members" were paying for financial advice services they did not receive through ongoing advice fees and commissions.
"Enough is enough," FPA chief executive Mark Rantall said at the time.
"We are in the midst of a democratic political process to fundamentally reform an already world-class regulatory regime under which financial planners operate in Australia.
"That process, called FOFA, should run its course without being derailed by veiled political messages dressed up as consumer advocacy - the likes of which we see perpetrated on working Australians by the ISN through this advertising campaign."
Full marks to the FPA for standing up to ISN over the campaign, though the war of words between the organisations doesn't look like ending for some time - perhaps not until the full force of FOFA is known.
On the one hand, it is important for the FPA to be the voice for its members and stand up for the cause, however, as FOFA will bring with it scaled advice and further detail on intra-fund advice, Australia's financial planning landscape could soon look somewhat one dimensional.
Minter Ellison partner Maged Girgis recently told a media briefing that key elements of the FOFA reforms and its review of the country's superannuation system, including the creation of MySuper, could place industry funds and retail funds on an equal footing.
In line with the changes, he said the industry super fund sector's compare the pair marketing campaign would become irrelevant as soon "the escalator will be going the same way".
"Looking forward, if we run with the theme of what the industry will look like in three years' time, industry funds will start to look a lot like retail funds and retail funds will look a lot like industry funds, which is very interesting," he said.
So, regardless if ISN continues its crusade against financial planners, it could be short lived.
Clarification
The article entitled "Plan B reviews business, seeks new chief" that appeared in edition 559 of IFA may have caused some readers to infer that David Newman was retrenched from his position as group executive of group advisory services for Plan B for performance reasons. Such an inference is incorrect and regretted by Plan B Group Holdings Ltd. Plan B Group Holdings Ltd and executive director Bryan Taylor apologise to Newman if this inference was drawn by any readers. Plan B Group Holdings Ltd and Taylor wish to make it clear that there was no link between Newman's retrenchment and his performance as Plan B group executive.
