FAAA celebrates three years as merged entity

Yasmine Raso

Senior Journalist

7 April 2026

The Financial Advice Association Australia (FAAA) has marked three years since the Association of Financial Advisers (AFA) and the Financial Planning Association of Australia (FPA) merged to create a unified professional body representing Australian advisers.

The FAAA commenced operations on 3 April 2023 after close to 97 per cent of members across both heritage associations who voted agreed to merge, paving the way for a current membership base of 10,799 in total.

“The future of the profession is bright,” FAAA Chair, David Sharpe, said.

“What  I am most proud of is that the FAAA saw the coming together at the board, management and most importantly at the member level like we had always been one.

“The FAAA very quickly formed its own identity with members. Our communities have come together and created grassroots events and connections for members right across the country.

“The release of the 2030 Strategic vision and the Policy Platform at Congress 2024 consolidated what the FAAA stands for and what it hopes to achieve.

“With considerable challenges such as CSLR and confusion over AML – the benefit of a professional voice speaking for our members has never been more important.”

The FAAA also noted it had achieved several key milestones in the wake and as a result of the merger, including:

• Launching the Advice Academy in November 2025 to help build and support a pipeline of new advisers entering the financial advice profession
• Lobbying the ATO to implement greater deductions for upfront financial advice fees, which are now available as of September 2024
• Launching the Advice Ambassadors program in February 2025, aiming to pair each member of parliament with a financial adviser in their electorate, ensuring their awareness of our issues and the value we add to local communities
• Signing a memorandum of understanding in November 2024 with FPSB India, a subsidiary of the Financial Planning Standards Board (FPSB), to promote cross-border mobility and professional development for CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER (CFP) aspirants and professionals
• Launching a major consumer digital marketing campaign in November 2024, promoting professional financial advice to consumers and explaining the value of obtaining advice from a member of the FAAA
• Launching an upgraded Find a Planner tool to help members connect with their ideal potential clients and grow their businesses in September 2024, and
• Launching the FAAA careers centre in June 2024 which features advice related roles at all stages, and which is actively promoted to student members and graduate members seeking employment in advisory firms.

Leaders of the FPA and AFA prior to the merger also expressed the importance of presenting a “strong, unified voice” for stakeholders and for preserving each associations’ shared history in representing the interests of advisers in Australia.

“It was very evident to then FPA CEO Dante de Gori, and me, that when the AFA and FPA joined together to meet with our politicians and regulators, we had a far greater impact,” FPA Chair from October 2018 to May 2022, Marisa Broome, said.

“The AFA and the FPA were more similar than different – and in fact shared well over 1,000 members.  It made sense to join resources and be able to represent the majority of the professional financial advice sector.

“It was fortunate that our work with previous AFA presidents had built a lot of trust.  The openminded approach of then AFA president Sam Perera, and the trust we continued to build, provided the opportunity for the merger to be presented to the AFA and FPA boards.”

“We were convinced that coming together as the FAAA would enable us to be better resourced, more sophisticated, and a respected voice for the profession,” AFA President from October 2021 until the time of the merger, Sam Perera, said.

“It is clear that the FAAA has indeed risen to be the legitimate voice for the profession, advocating relentlessly for policy settings that enable financial advisers and their practices to thrive.

“Another important measure of success was our Association’s ability to keep members at the heart of everything it pursues. To that end, I congratulate David Sharpe, the FAAA Board and FAAA CEO Sarah Abood for their tireless work in translating the vision we had in 2023 into a reality.”

FAAA chief executive, Sarah Abood, said the association was continuing to look ahead in its work across policy and advocacy.

“The overwhelming vote to merge the two associations was a strong endorsement,” she said.

“It was a clear message that financial advisers wanted a unified membership body to represent them, support them and to navigate the ongoing legislative and regulatory change that faces the profession.

“While the FAAA has achieved much over the past three years, there is still work to be done and the policy and advocacy team’s work is continuing apace.

“We are proud to represent professional financial advisers and the great work our members do every day, helping Australians become better off financially and achieve their goals and dreams.”