IOOF dealer group Lonsdale has expanded the expertise of its SMSF advisers by encouraging them to join the SMSF Professionals’ Association of Australia (SPAA) and undertake the specialist accreditation programs the industry body offers.
The initiative is aimed at motivating Lonsdale’s authorised representatives to attain independent verification of their SMSF expertise in addition to the dealer group’s existing training programs.
“Professional standards that have an independent tick of approval and raise adviser competency will be critical over the coming years as we continue to see the SMSF sector evolve,” Lonsdale chief executive Mark Stephen said.
SPAA chief executive Andrea Slattery said Lonsdale’s commitment highlighted both the importance of continually lifting professional standards across the industry, as well as creating the training architecture for all professionals in SMSF advice.
“It’s imperative that advisers commit to being at the forefront of professionalism because that allows consumers to make more informed decisions based on trusted, competent advice and to be able to build their wealth efficiently to meet their retirement goals,” Slattery said.
Stephen said Lonsdale was committed to continually raising professional standards by ensuring the training, accreditation and education its planners received were significantly higher than was required by ASIC.
Slattery said the commitment by Lonsdale was an exciting development that highlighted where the SMSF industry was heading.
In other news, SPAA has attributed a large part of the Australian’s superannuation system’s success to the SMSF sector.
The professional body’s comments come after the Mercer World Pension Index, an annual review of 25 superannuation systems, ranked Australia’s retirement savings regime second behind Denmark.
“Quite clearly, SMSFs, as the best-performing, most efficient, largest and fastest-growing part of the superannuation sector, can take their share of credit for Australia’s performance,” Slattery said.
“In particular, the fact that each SMSF, on average, holds about $1 million in funds under administration would have been a strong contributing factor for the Australian system being rated the highest in terms of adequacy.”