Last week, I attended the FSC 2024 Conference and was privileged to be asked to chair a workshop on Bridging the Perception Gap to promote access to, and the benefits of, professional financial advice.
Many thanks to Anna Livesey from ANZ Bank, Jeremy Graham from FNZ Group, James Blair from Lighthouse Financial, and, of course, the redoubtable David Bishop from FSC - outstanding research, David.
There was a full house for the session with excellent input from the panel and the audience, a lively Q&A session, and very thoughtful material created by the tables during the workshop. The results will be published on the FSC’s website shortly.
It wasn’t all work, of course, and here’s the Laird with the lovely Toni Dodds, daughter of the late, great, and sorely missed Fred Dodds. (@Toni – wherever Papa Bear is now, he’s very proud of you!) Toni heads up Lifetime Group’s Quality Assurance unit, and has, in my humble opinion, established and developed one of the industry’s leading examples of how to make compliance a competitive advantage. It’s not always the most popular function in an organisation, but Toni delivers high quality support for the organisation with patience, empathy, and grace.
Also, sad and glad at the same time to see fellow Scot James Brown about to become an ex-expat as he is returning to the UK to further his excellent industry experience and reputation. Here we are with Minister Bayley – still smiling and happy – well, it was getting later in the evening after the generously hospitable Awards Dinner celebrations.
This was also an opportunity to welcome Kirk Hope as the new CEO of FSC following Richard Klipin’s return to Sydney – big shoes to fill, Kirk, but very pleased to see Nick Hakes, CEO at FANZ invited to Russell Hutchison’s private Financial Advice Provider lunch with Samantha Barrass and Michael Hewes from FMA providing regulatory updates, news, and views.
All round an excellent Conference, very well put together by Haydee Stroud and the FSC team – here’s to 2025!
And this post has more of a social theme to it – others will deal with the issues of the day.
Your Aye
The Laird
Comments