A decision to disband the National Financial Industry Training Advisory Body (NFITAB) has been condemned by the National Insurance Brokers Association (NIBA) and the Insurance Council of Australia (ICA).

The NFITAB, a Federal Government body formed about seven years ago to advise on training directions for the entire financial services sector, will be merged by the Australian National Training Authority (ANTA) into a broad-based Business and Innovation Skills Council. This will also cover the training needs of such services as information technology and telecommunications, as well as creative industries like film and multimedia.

It’s understood the financial services sector’s representation on the 14-person body will be two.

NIBA CEO Noel Pettersen says the Financial Services Reform Act has lifted the importance of staff training to a new level, so this move is, at best, disappointing. “We believe that the industry requires its own financial services training authority,” he said.

ICA Executive Director Alan Mason said that given the size and complexity of the financial services sector, which has 25% of publicly listed companies and more than 500,000 employees, “the industry needs its own peak body for education and advice”.

It’s understood the NFITAB has proposed to ANTA that it should continue to provide advice as a training authority. It’s understood other associations in the sector feel much the same way as NIBA and ICA, so it will be interesting to see how the Government responds.