IFA-Aust

The home to those who want to be
part of an exclusive, conflict-free, elite AFSL for
genuinely independent advisers

All the tools you need for the safety and success of your business ...

Independence

Community

All IFA AUST advisers meet the ‘independence law’, which is found at s.923A of Corps Act. The legislation provides details of conflicts of interest that are prohibited if you wish to describe your services as ‘independent’, ‘unbiased’ or ‘impartial’. This is broadly summarised as:

no associations with product manufacturers,
no conflicts that influence your advice, and
no conflicted remuneration which means no commissions and no asset fees.

As ‘gatekeeper’ for our Community of independent financial advisers, our role is to protect the safety of the Community and foster the success of the individual businesses within it. We will therefore only consider admitting advisers who either already satisfy the independence laws, or are prepared to reorganise their practice to do so.

Autonomy

Professionalism means different things to different people but at the core of every profession is personal integrity tied to personal accountability. As an expert practitioner within a recognised profession, we believe you should be free to practise your craft.
So too, when it comes to structuring your business, our philosophy is ‘your business, your call’. This means you have autonomy of service offering – your value proposition, preferred clientele, pricing and all the elements of your service are a matter for you to decide, not us.

Adviser portal

Only the IFA-AUST Community has access to the Adviser Portal. It gives us a direct line to you, and you a direct line to us. Launched in May 2022, it provides a one-stop-shop for you to access all our policies, templates, checklists, forms and training materials. It also provides you with the latest news, details of upcoming events and is where you can schedule a meeting with a team member, request an accreditation or just ask a question.

Finding best-of-breed experts is much quicker and simpler when you’re able to tap into the experience of your colleagues and access the entire Community’s network of contacts. This is a tangible benefit of being part of a Community. It also avoids one of the more significant components of a high AFSL fee – the heavy infrastructure cost of retaining in-house subject matter experts

Technical support and group networks

Other ways to access useful tools and technical expertise is via an online adviser forum specifically for IFA AUST advisers, the cloud-hosted “Professional Development Library”, as well as the “Safety and Success” online adviser meeting that we hold each month.

Client commission rebating and reporting

IFA AUST coordinates the payment of all client rebates on a quarterly basis which includes all commissions received during the preceding financial quarter, with the funds being released to clients on the last day of the month following the end of the quarter.
Advisers are provided with a report in advance of each release date which include any possible action items required, ensuring them to review the individual payments prior to payment date.
Clients are emailed automatically with notification of the payment and provided with a summary report.

Marketing support

Anyone in business knows that the responsibility to make the phone ring rests with the business owner. We do, however, undertake activities to promote you online and help you grow your business. For instance, because of IFA AUST’s positioning in the market place and it's close ties to the Profession of Independent Financial Advisers (PIFA), we are regularly approached by the media to provide expert opinion for articles in newspapers and magazines.

IFA-Aust is a strong advocate of advice that really is independent - both for consumers to seek, and advisers to practise. IFA-Aust members believe this new AFSL is just a natural extension of what they believe in and are already providing.

Daniel Brammall, Managing director