AFA award winners announced
Olivia Maragna from Aspire Retire Financial Services has been crowned as the 2012 Association of Financial Advisers (AFA) Adviser of the Year Award.
“Olivia is a worthy winner of the title ‘AFA Adviser of the Year’ and, as we celebrate the 10th anniversary of this award, it is reassuring to see that the future of advice is in such capable hands,” said AFA CEO Richard Klipin.
Maragna took out the AFA’s inaugural Female Excellence in Advice Award last year. She is co-founder of nine-year old Aspire Retire Financial Services; mentors three advisers and is a Justice of the Peace (JP). She is also an active member of the AFA, for both the Queensland State Chapter and the AFA Foundation.
“Year on year we see continued excellence amongst candidates for all our awards,” said Klipin. “Despite what can only be described as ‘interesting times’, advisers are more than rising to meet the challenges. They are innovative, professional and an outstanding example to their peers.”
Zurich’s life and investments CEO Colin Morgan added that Zurich was is committed to championing adviser excellence “and it is our great pleasure to support the AFA’s Adviser of the Year Award which celebrates the real talent in our industry”.
“This year’s finalists have raised the bar yet again and we are delighted to see the industry and the Award go from strength to strength,” he added.
Other award winners included:
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‘Best and fairest’ Michael Murphy Award: Bernie Toohey, Gold Financial.
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AFA Female Excellence in Advice Award: Christine Hornery, Financial Management Solutions.
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Excellence in Education Award: Dean Lombardo, Access Financial Management.
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AFA Rising Star: Matt Hale, Financial Design for Life.
New tools on Saxo platform
Saxo Bank, the online multi-asset trading and investment specialist parent company of Saxo Capital Markets (Australia) Pty Ltd and the online trading and investment specialist, has added CFDs on Government Bonds to the existing range of asset classes available to trade. It has also launched new charting tools to assist investors with greater information.
The new products are available on SaxoTrader, SaxoWebTrader, SmartMobileTrader and the SaxoTrader App and they include; French OAT (10y), Italian BTP (10y), German Bund (10y), German Bobl (5y) and German Schatz (2yr).
The new offering will enable retail clients to invest directly in European debt with favourable terms compared to those offered on the futures markets. These terms include much lower margin requirements lower minimum trade sizes and tick values as well as no financing costs, exchange fees or minimum commissions. CFDs on Government Bonds also create the conditions for retail investors to trade the underlying asset with much better control of their exposure to risk margin.
Former BT exec joins RetireInvest
RI Advice Group (RetireInvest) has secured former BT Financial Group Head of Licensee Select, David Hunt, to the position of manager, Northern Region.
“David is the ideal fit for our business with proven success in partnering with practices to drive strategic initiatives. This appointment forms part of our continued focus and commitment to business growth across RI’s practices,” said RI CEO Paul Campbell.
In this new role Mr Hunt will take on responsibility for leading the team supporting RI practices in NSW, ACT, Qld and NT and recruiting high calibre practices to build on the success of RI’s compelling new commercial terms.
“We look forward to David making a significant impact to practices, particularly in driving business growth via the opportunities opened up for quality advisers by FoFA reforms” said Campbell.
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