Over 1,100 delegates travelled to Hobart over 22-24 November for the annual FPA Professionals Congress, with fintech featuring prominently on the agenda. The following are some of the highlights from the event.

In keeping with the fintech theme of the opening day of the FPA Professionals Congress on 23 November 2017, a hologram image of FPA chief executive officer, Dante De Gori CFP^®, who officially opened the Congress. De Gori welcomed delegates to the sold out event in Hobart.

2017 had been a particularly important year for the profession, said De Gori, with the enshrinement in law of the terms ‘financial planner’ and ‘financial adviser’ and with the Financial Adviser Standards and Ethics Authority (FASEA) adopting the Financial Planning Education Council’s (FPEC) education standards for the financial planning profession.

De Gori also spoke about the new Money & Life website, which had attracted over 180,000 visits from consumers since launching this year. The online destination, which incorporates engaging and interactive digital and social media content that has been specifically designed to help Australians improve their financial wellbeing, is part of the FPA’s strategic LASER 2020 vision to better engage with consumers.

FPA chairman, Neil Kendall CFP^®, also highlighted some of the new initiatives the FPA was involved with in 2017. This included working with Financial Executive Women, Cancer Council and Banqer – a financial education company helping to raise the financial literacy of Australian school children.

In a presentation to delegates, Banqer co-founder, Kendall Flutey said that though its online interactive learning tool, Banqer software creates a mini-economy in the classroom for students to interact with, thereby helping to improve their financial literacy in a fun and engaging way.

According to Neil Kendall, through its partnership with Banqer, the FPA is aiming to involve 15,000 primary school students across 500 schools nationwide.

The FPA also used Congress to release its report on fintech called: Mapping Fintech to the Financial Planning Process: Why Fintech is not a Threat.

The report maps fintech to the financial planning process and highlights that increased revenue, reduced client costs, improved operational efficiencies and enhanced client engagement as being some of the advantages planners can gain by embracing fintech solutions.

The report examines the adoption of fintech solutions in the delivery of the six-step financial planning process: defining the scope of engagement, identifying goals, financial situation assessment, financial plan preparation, implementation, and review. It then maps fintech solution providers to the planning process, to demonstrate where technology can assist specific parts of a financial planning business.

Other highlights of Congress included 24 workshop sessions, a Future2 evening celebration at the provocative Museum of Old and New Art (MONA), and the FPA Women in Financial Planning breakfast, featuring guest speaker, Katerina Kimmorley.

Kimmorley was moved by the plight of India’s urban poor to set up Pollinate Energy, which provides people living in extreme poverty with access to sustainable products, like solar powered lights, that make their lives better.

Futurist Mike Walsh provided a thought-provoking keynote presentation about how algorithms are changing the future for everybody and explained how the next generation of clients will be shaped by artificial intelligence.

“Already, the likes of Amazon is introducing the concept of cashless buying into grocery stores and through superior data analytics, is even able to predict your purchasing needs,” Walsh said.

The FPA Professionals Congress also showcased an impressive line-up of plenary speakers, including Claudia Hammond, Dr Daniel Susskind, Effie Zahos, Paul and Alicia West, Paul and Dr Tammie Roos, and Waleed Aly and Dr Susan Carland.

The opening day of Congress featured the Professional Practice Workshop, where practitioners and aligned professionals shared best practice ideas, including targeting client growth, client and staff engagement, recruitment and remuneration, succession planning, and pricing advice. A Paraplanner Workshop was also held on the first day, which proved popular with attendees.

An impressive $160,000 was raised for the Future2 Foundation by participants in the 2017 Future2 Wheel Classic and the Tasmanian Hiking Challenges.

A dedicated band of 19 cyclists and sponsors from across Australia helped raise $130,000 by participating in the 2017 Future2 Wheel Classic. Cyclist Tony Sandercock CFP^® was presented with the Jack Griffin Memorial Award for having fundraised the highest individual amount, while Iress took out the Susan Grice Memorial Award for fundraising the highest team amount. Mark Thelwell received the Perpetual Purple Pedal Award, which recognised his personal achievement in participating in this arduous event.

And for the first time, the Future2 Tassie Challenge featured a number of hiking challenges, with participants raising $30,000 in fundraising. Anne Graham CFP^® LRS^® and David Graham CFP^® received the inaugural Hiking Challenge Award for their combined fundraising.

The FPA also recognised the outstanding achievements of its members with a series of FPA Awards announced at Congress. The 2017 FPA Award winners were:

• FPA CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER^® Professional of the Year Award – Michael Hayward CFP^® of Capital Partners Private Wealth Advisers
• FPA Financial Planner AFP^® of the Year Award – Patricia Garcia AFP^® of WB Financial
• FPA Paraplanner of the Year Award – Adriana Brink AFP^® of Alman Partners
• FPA Professional Practice of the Year Award – Capital Partners Private Wealth Advisers
• FPA University Student of the Year Award – Azaria Bell of Griffith University
• Gwen Fletcher Memorial Award – Michael Forer AFP^® of Next Level Financial Services
• Future2 Community Service Award – Reuben Zelwer CFP^® of Adapt Wealth Management

The 2018 FPA Professionals Congress will be held in Sydney at the International Convention Centre – 21-23 November 2018.