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The MFAA has convened a group of influential stakeholders to represent the financial services industry as Treasury reviews key aspects of the SMSF sector.
For its submission to the Financial System Inquiry (FSI), the MFAA has sought support from the Financial Planning Association of Australia (FPA), the Association of Financial Advisers (AFA) and the Commercial Asset Finance Brokers Association (CAFBA).
The MFAA said a joint response that engages with these industry bodies should significantly raise the impact of the submission.
“Where possible, it is important to provide the government with a comprehensive submission from the broader industry, rather than multiple small submissions that the government then needs to decipher,” MFAA chief executive Siobhan Hayden said.
“The shared voice is critical to demonstrating industry unity and support for key initiatives currently under review.”
The MFAA submission will cover three key FSI recommendations that impact upon members, including a prohibition on direct borrowing by SMSFs for limited-recourse borrowing arrangements (LRBAs); protecting small business borrowers; and enhanced competition in the lending sector.
Brokers are invited to respond to any part of the MFAA's draft submissions by the close of business on 23 March.
“This important initiative will ensure the industry has input to this joint submission and we are very keen to gain input from the broader industry community,” Ms Hayden said.
“The MFAA has supported all brokers in this issue and invites their feedback, even if they are not part of the association."
The MFAA’s initiative to unite other industry bodies comes after former MFAA president and Bernie Lewis executive chairman Mark Lewis told The Adviser last year that the industry groups representing financial planning, mortgage broking and accounting must form deeper relationships to aid the convergence of the professions.
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“There needs to be some deeper relationships with FPA, AFA and all of the professional groups,” Mr Lewis said.
“There probably needs to be some deeper relationships built with the accounting associations.
“There needs to be some mutual respect between those associations − and some communication from each of them to their membership that convergence is starting to happen, and that the associations are going to start working together to aid and facilitate that convergence."
Mr Lewis added that mortgage broking had the biggest challenge, compared with planning and accounting, in striving to be viewed as a professional industry.
[Related: Are SMSF loans facing extinction?]
