General insurance brokers don’t want “the ills of the financial planning industry foisted unjustly” on them, according to National Insurance Brokers Association (NIBA) President David Duffield.

Speaking at the opening of the NIBA annual convention in Sydney yesterday, he attacked Assistant Treasurer Bill Shorten’s linking of the two unrelated intermediary groups through the Future of Financial Advice (FOFA) reforms.

“NIBA’s efforts to bring about a fairer, more workable [regulatory] regime for brokers is ongoing,” he told a capacity industry audience at the Sydney Convention and Exhibition Centre.

“Despite a number of intensive inquiries in the past, it seems that the issue continuing to trouble brokers is commission disclosure or even the banning of commission on risk products altogether.

“There’s simply no justification to do so – and that’s exactly what we keep saying to the decision-makers in government.”

Mr Duffield says working to keep the FOFA reforms in perspective. “Reform the areas that need reform, but don’t apply those reforms across all areas of financial services where no problems currently exist.”

He says NIBA must continue to present strong arguments and “counter any false premise that brokers add cost and not value to the system”.

More than 900 delegates have signed up for the convention, and Mr Duffield says the number will exceed 1200 when multi-user “flexi-passes” are taken into account. The event ends tomorrow night.