ABSTRACT
On the grounds of the findings, all financial planning stakeholders should work together towards professionalising financial planning with individual licensing, like other professions. Advisers should be disconnected from licensees so that they have greater control to avoid conflicts of interest. The current AFSL-AR licensing model should be superseded and replaced by an independent professional body. For instance, the legislated Financial Adviser Standards and Ethics Authority [FASEA] tasked with professional standards, education and ethics or the newly Hayne-recommended statutory disciplinary body could evolve to also appoint, register, regulate, discipline and cease individual advisers from practicing their craft as true professionals. Individual licensing through a single body will not only further professionalise financial planning, but also encourage a younger generation to enter financial planning, notwithstanding the improvement in public trust and confidence in financial advisers such a body could instil.
