Dear Members,

Within a matter of days the current Financial Year 2015 will be over and I trust you will have a successful conclusion to it.

It has been an extremely busy period over the past few months and I thank our Administration Staff (headed up by Ms Rebekah Davis) for keeping everything on track and looking after our current and new members.

Our growth remains as strong as ever increasing month-on-month and new staff whom we’ve taken on board this year have all proven to be great assets to the business.

It has been my great pleasure to be invited to speak at many many PD Days around the country these past weeks, with Finsure/LoanKit and Connective, two fantastic and great aggregators who are doing a magnificent job in the industry. I'm looking forward to speaking at many more PD Days to come with our country’s aggregators.

Additionally please keep an eye on your emails as the FBAA this year is holding 55 PD Days of our own. We will be covering many issues including such topics as:

- Vendor Finance,

- Motor Finance (note a new National Roadshow is starting in July for motor finance professionals and Motor Vehicle Dealers, with ASIC as a speaker throughout this series),

- updates on market issues and challenges and how the FBAA are dealing with these

- Lender updates

Expect to hear from many Guest Speakers who will help you in business and in life.

Regulatory needs and Ministerial meetings abound throughout this current period with meetings held with :

- the Minister for Small Business Hon Bruce Billson dealing with matters that impact small businesses (you)

- Finance Minister (our current industry minister) Hon Josh Frydeberg dealing with outstanding industry needs and issues,

- Hon Michael Keenan on AML/CTF issues within our sector,

- Hon David Bushby in supporting the understandings of what we are doing.

- Continued meetings and discussions with ASIC in relation to the current Interest Only review, along with discussions relating to SMSF Lending, industry education, motto sector and more.

I also recently attended a function in Hobart this month celebrating the Hon Eric Abetz’s 21 years in the Senate (Eric has been a long term supporter of the FBAA and opened one of our recent national conferences and is the Leader of Government in the Senate). I was fortunate to hold a conversation with our Prime Minister Tony Abbott and ex-Prime Minister John Howard about certain undertakings the FBAA is doing for Australia, which was well received.

I’ve also this year recently held very positive meetings with Genworth and QBE, whom with us collectively lobby and drive the Minister and Treasury to ensure LMI disclosure in the KFS comes to fruition this year.

Our voice in the Industry and General Media remains extremely strong as well as the FBAA appearing live on multiple interviews on Radio Stations around the country (ABC Radio National, ABC Perth, 2UE, 2GB, Queensland radio, and live-to-air National TV appearances. You can check out our latest interview here...http://www.switzerbroker.com.au/broker-video/white20150610/

All these undertakings are in support of finance brokers nationally and highlights the value in using a FBAA Member for finance needs.

Also please take note that if your Professional Indemnity (PI) Cover is coming up for, or is due for renewal now, make sure you take a look at our PI suppler Insurance Advisernet . We are advised that it appears that some insurers may be putting their rates up around 40%!

Upcoming Brokers...

The FBAA is proud to announce that we now have over 1,000 Student Members who we are preparing to engage on the benefits and opportunities of being a professional finance broker. This initiative will see the FBAA as an ‘industry first’ to reach out to high school and university students around Australia to look at finance broking as their future career choice.

As a part of our continued commitment and support of our members and the wider industry, the FBAA has undertaken to continue its support and sponsorship of the Better Business Summit. This initiative provides discounts for attendance for our members, plus supports such great initiatives to the industry. We are also sponsoring the upcoming Real Estate Awards - Mortgage Broker of the Year category -, and sponsoring the widely publicised Australian Broking Awards (ABA) which are soon to be held and we congratulate all the finalists.

Additionally we have just released the details of this year’s National Industry Conference, to be held at the new convention centre at SeaWorld. It certainly is shaping up to be an amazing event. Not only will you be updated on the industry latest, following a day of information all delegates will be transported by luxury coach to our Gala Dinner Spectacular at MovieWorld - you simply can’t miss this and for those who want to get ready to theme-dress for the evening !

Download your Conference Invitation today! We look forward to seeing you there!

Thanks for your ongoing support of the FBAA and its initiatives for our industry, and shortly you’ll be hearing a lot of noise about our new website, new marketing initiatives and new look ….. but more later

Have a great month, Pete