Perspective Financial Group says it intends to join the new industry trade body, the Association of Professional Financial Advisers (APFA), if its rebrand from the Association of Independent Financial Advisers (AIFA) is ratified later this month.
The name change and rebrand to APFA is due to be voted upon by members at an AGM being held on 13 November.
The national financial advisory group believes that APFA’s expanded membership base, which will be open to both independent and restricted advisers, suits its operation and that it will be joining a trade body which will be able to “truly represent all its offices”.
Perspective recently announced that, post-Retail Distribution Review (RDR), its offices will be a mixture of both independent and restricted with a majority opting for the independent route.
The Group will join APFA as a collective, offering all its advisers access to APFA’s resources and support.
Peter Craddock, group operations director of Perspective Financial Group, said: “The financial advice market is undergoing significant change and it is important that all stakeholders accept and adapt to that change. We believe the move from AIFA to APFA to be the right one for the trade body, its members and the entire industry and we are pleased to be able to support this undertaking by joining once the rebrand is ratified.
“We are confident that APFA will be able to represent and support its entire expanded membership effectively and that firms like ourselves have much to benefit from by being members. This is why we are happy to announce that as soon as the name change and rebrand has taken place, Perspective Financial Group will become APFA members.”
He added: “Where appropriate, and in a majority of cases, our offices will remain independent. However, for some of our offices the work required to demonstrate the regulator’s changed definition of independence would be excessive and provide no benefit to the client – which is always our core priority. Therefore, some of our offices will be restricted but the fact they will no longer be ‘independent financial advisers’ does not mean they are not offering a fantastic, quality-based service to their clients covering the whole of market.
“For us, of far more importance, is to effect a move to Chartered status as we believe this will be the future benchmark and standard for all advice firms. This is why we have been actively working with our offices to become Chartered firms and already 30% of our offices have achieved this accolade. Our intention is that the Group as a whole, and our individual offices, will play a full part in the rebranded trade body and we are looking forward to supporting, and being supported by, APFA as it establishes itself in the new RDR environment.”
Chris Hannant, policy director at AIFA, added: “The process towards changing our name and rebranding continues this month when we put our proposals to members at our AGM. If this is accepted it will mean that we are in the best possible position to represent and support all advisers that put the interests of their clients first.
“Perspective Financial Group’s support for the changes we are making is extremely welcome. I believe Perspective offices and advisers will be part of a truly effective trade body, which can best represent their interests and activities.”