Eleanor Dartnall

The Association of Financial Advisers (AFA) and Zurich have named the winners of Australia’s most prestigious advice accolades, the 2014 AFA Adviser of the Year Award and the new AFA Practice of the Year Award.

The 2014 AFA Adviser of the Year Award has been presented to Eleanor Dartnall from Dartnall Advisers Pty Ltd. The AFA Practice of the Year Award has been presented to Complete Financial Balance.

Speaking at the Gala Dinner at the AFA National Adviser Conference in Cairns tonight, AFA CEO, Brad Fox said the AFA is delighted to announce Eleanor Dartnall and Complete Financial Balance as the recipients of the respective Awards. “Eleanor has an incredible passion to make a positive difference in the lives of her clients and, in recent times, to the young adult children of her clients. She is extremely committed to ongoing personal professional development, engaging in extensive research at Masters level,” he said. “Every client is developed in terms of their own level of financial literacy and Eleanor’s advice strategies are built through collaboration with the client which guarantees the client’s emotional commitment to the advice outcome. With Eleanor as an ambassador for advice as the AFA Adviser of the Year, we believe she will make a very positive impact on the public perception of financial advice.”

In congratulating Complete Financial Balance, Mr Fox said, “As the first recipient of this prestigious award, the team at Complete Financial Balance have proven that by continually improving and consistently looking to make their practice better for their clients, true excellence can be achieved. Their client-focussed processes demonstrate their value to the client at every step of the advice journey.  As the first recipients of the Award, Complete Financial Balance has set a very high benchmark.”

Philip Kewin, GM Retail Life & Investments from award partner Zurich said, “These advisers are the vanguards of their profession and as such will provide crucial leadership during challenging times and will play a pivotal role in creating a more informed, more financially literate community.Zurich is delighted this award program continues to deliver finalists and winners of such high calibre.”

Mr Fox commented on the rigour of the judging process for each award. “With the support of Zurich since 2003 for the Adviser of the Year Award, and now also with the Practice of the Year, we have built the most stringent assessment process applied to any advice award in Australia. Some of the steps include an in-depth client feedback survey, site visit, examination of advice documents, interviews with staff, and a final presentation in front of a highly credentialed judging panel of seven members. That’s why these are the most prestigious adviser awards in the country,” he said. “We make the process like this so that we know we have role models for other advisers and to demonstrate the quality of AFA advisers to the broader community.”

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Brad Fox

The Association of Financial Advisers (AFA) and foundation award partner Zurich yesterday announced a new chapter in the Adviser of the Year Award Program (the Award program), with the best individual adviser and best advice practice now to be separately recognised.

In launching the inaugural Advice Practice of the Year Award and revamped Adviser of the Year gongs, AFA CEO Brad Fox said that the changing financial advisory landscape and the evolution of new business models had prompted a review of the existing award methodology.

“The original Adviser of the Year Award was established by the AFA and Zurich in 2003 and since then we have seen Australia’s leading advisers participate in the Award program,” Mr Fox said. “But one of the big changes we have seen in recent years is the growth in new business models, with the principals of many successful and innovative advice practices no longer being client facing advisers themselves.

“At the same time, practice consolidation has seen an increase in specialist advisers who perhaps don’t own part of the practice and aren’t so much focussed on the growth and day-to-day running of their practice overall.”

In recognising this changing dynamic in advice practices, the Award program will now assess and acknowledge the best individual adviser and the best advice practice as separate awards.

Mr Philip Kewin, Zurich’s GM Retail Life & Investments also announced that a significant addition to the judging criteria for both awards would be an assessment of the efforts made by award candidates to improve the financial literacy of their clients, prospects and the community overall.

“Low financial literacy and engagement with the financial services system continues to be one of our biggest challenges, arguably more so than the widely-reported underinsurance problem,” Mr Kewin said. “Advisers play a pivotal role in making Australians more financially informed and better equipped to make important financial decisions.

“Their ability to do this – and let it be known that they are doing this – will be instrumental in reinforcing the value of advice amongst the wider community and in helping lift the profile of advisers as true professionals,” he said. “The AFA and Zurich both felt it was important enough to pull out as a standalone criterion in the awards.”

Both awards will be judged by the same panel, comprising Brad Fox and Michael Nowak from the AFA, Rebecca Sheils (Beddoes Institute), Graham Peatey (Encore Group), Peter Sobels (Riskinfo) and Kristine Wade and Andy Marshall from Zurich.

Award applications open9 June 2014 and close 8 August 2014 with the winners announced at the AFA National Conference, in Cairns 11–14 October, 2014.

More information, including application forms, can be found at www.adviseroftheyear.com.au

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Brad Fox – CEO – AFA

Nominations for the eleventh annual Association of Financial Advisers (AFA) Adviser of the Year Award (the Award) have opened and the search to showcase the pinnacle of Australia’s financial advisers begins for 2013. 

As part of the launch, Award partner Zurich have announced a new and improved Award website, which has been optimised for mobile devices.

Mr Brad Fox, CEO of the AFA, said that in the current regulatory environment, advisers are more in need of support and encouragement than ever before.

“Since the launch of the Adviser of the Year Award in 2003, it has become a prestigious accolade which has helped motivate and inspire advisers to deliver quality advice,” he said.

“The new website, which features videos, galleries and white papers from previous finalists as well as the details about this year’s Award will make the nomination process more rewarding and informative.”

Mr Fox said the quality of the advisers nominated each year is a great reflection on the financial advice profession, the financial services industry and the services they provide to Australian consumers.

“Some of Australia’s most talented advisers have participated in the program over the past decade and are now sharing their expertise with other advisers,” he said.

Mr Philip Kewin, General Manager Retail – Life and Investments at Zurich said the new mobile version of the Adviser of the Year website reflects a change in online habits.

“We have adapted the nomination process to give as many advisers as possible the opportunity to be nominated,” he said. “Statistics show that almost half of online content produced is now being accessed via phones and tablets so it made sense for us to optimise the website for mobile devices.”
 
Mr Fox said Zurich has been instrumental to the success of the Award.

“We have Zurich to thank for their continued innovation and this year the new website, which will enable advisers to access even more support and inspiration from the previous years’ finalists,” he said.

The Award will be presented at the AFA Annual Conference in October. To nominate an outstanding adviser, visit adviseroftheyear.com.au and connect on Twitter @adviserofyear to make sure you receive updates on nominees, judging outcomes and tips and insights from the finalists from previous years.

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