FBAA hits record membership number

The FBAA has announced it passed the 11,000 member mark at the end of the 2022-23 financial year.

As the association celebrates its 30-year anniversary, the number of members as of June 30 was 11,044, representing a net growth of 951 from the same date last year. Almost 93 per cent of members are customer-facing brokers.

FBAA managing director Peter White AM said the association has come a long way in 30 years and revealed that independent research found that the FBAA now represents around 68 per cent of all Australian Credit Representatives who are customer facing brokers.

“I am immensely proud of our record of advocacy over the past three decades and of the gains that finance brokers have achieved through the work of the FBAA,” he said.

“We’ve had wonderful directors, managers, staff, sponsors and supporters who have demonstrated that they are prepared to go above and beyond to ensure that our industry thrives.”

Mr White also paid tribute to members, calling them examples of professionalism and integrity, and pointing to data from the Australian Financial Complaints Authority (AFCA) to back up his claim.

“I recently saw AFCA figures for the period Nov 21 to Oct 22 which recorded 161 complaints about brokers, and only eight were FBAA Members,” he said.

“This is consistent with past figures from ASIC that show extremely small percentages of brokers that are subject to action from the regulator are our members.

“These figures are a testimony to the work the FBAA has done around education, professional development and governance, and the standards our members set.”

Despite the progress, Mr White declared that the association will not stop its trajectory of growth. 

“There is still much to do and achieve and there always will be,” he said.

“The industry is growing, technology is advancing, banking is changing, and we must ensure that brokers continue to evolve and succeed.

“Our promise to members is that we will always stand beside you and work for you.”