Don Trapnell

Australia’s leading independently owned licensee, Synchron, has written to Government, urging that reforms to the Education Standards Bill include streamlined education pathways for differing disciplines.

“In our letter we reflect our long-held belief that there needs to be a separation of disciplines in the education and training of financial advice practitioners,” said Synchron Director Don Trapnell.

“It is presupposed by Government that financial planners and risk writers are in the same discipline, but they are not. Our letter draws a parallel between the GP and the dentist; they both have to have a basic knowledge of medicine, but then they need to go into their own areas of expertise. You wouldn’t employ a GP to perform a root canal, so why should they need to know how to do one?”

Mr Trapnell also said Synchron’s stance is in line with the position of the Association of Financial Advisers (AFA).

“Like the AFA, we have serious concerns in relation to the brain drain that could occur if the proposed reforms are allowed to continue forward. There are very senior, very respected advisers within our Synchron group, including myself, who despite their many years of experience and varied qualifications will be forced to undertake a university degree in order to continue practicing,” said Mr Trapnell.

“I have almost 50 years experience as a risk adviser and am regarded as an expert in my field, however I don’t have a Diploma of Financial Planning, because I am not a financial planner, nor do I have a financial planning university degree. Like many other experienced risk advisers, I hold formal life insurance qualifications, including Certified Insurance Professional by ANZIIF. Given my life insurance qualifications, level of experience and expertise, why should I and risk advisers like me have to re-train? There needs to be a more practical pathway established for existing advisers,” said Mr Trapnell.

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