NIBA is well placed to help its members over the initial FSRB hurdles, says CEO Noel Pettersen. In company with NIBA President David Harris, he has been travelling the countryside explaining why the association wants to expand its membership criteria to include life, general and underwriting agents as well as non-NIBA brokers.

Speaking to a large audience of NIBA members and invited guests in Melbourne this morning, Mr Pettersen said NIBA already provides ASIC-approved training courses to meet the policy for training representatives providing advice to retail clients.

Warning intermediaries to “get this right or spend unnecessary time and money,” he said the expertise and experience requirements for licensing could see an applicant refused or a licence lost.

Mr Pettersen, who addressed meetings in Hobart and Launceston yesterday, has already covered much of the country with Mr Harris to explain the implications of the FSRB. A final vote on the constitutional changes necessary to widen NIBA’s membership criteria will be taken at the AGM in Melbourne in December.