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Topics: AIFA| Stephen Gay
Stephen Gay, the outgoing director of AIFA, has defended his tenure in the role and insisted his achievements have not always been recognised by the community, but said he believed it was the right time to move on.
His departure was announced today - coming just 14 months after he took up the position - and he will join the Association of British Insurers to become its new director of life, savings and protection.
Speaking to IFAonline, Gay said: "You can never tell when a good opportunity comes along, and it has. It gives me an opportunity to do some things I feel passionate about.
"There's always regrets when you leave a great team, and when you're working with people you like a great deal, that's not something you do lightly.
"If you leave a role when you think you've done everything you possibly could do, then you've probably been too long."
AIFA has been criticised by many IFAs over the past year for not doing enough to stem the tide of regulation, particularly with the retail distribution review.
Gay added: "What we have achieved is substantial and has often not been understood by the market.
"We've lobbied on issues that concern us about RDR and, after long consultation, the Treasury Select Committee's view turned out to be similar to ours."
Among the other achievements he cited was the delay of capital adequacy requirements and the opposition AIFA put up against the advertising tactics used by the Money Advice service and its description and ‘free' and ‘independent'.
"Perhaps one of our greatest achievements was barely on the radar screen of IFA, but would have been, if it hadn't worked," he said.
"That was the Consumer Focus attack on renewal and trail commission which happened in the summer and, as a result of ten months work on that, the challenge was seen off in a very emphatic way in the national press. That could have been a disaster for our community."
Another criticism of Gay has been his experience and his background within providers, rather than as an adviser.
However, Gay described this as a "lame and naïve argument", pointing out the qualities needed for his position.
"Who would be an ideal person to run a trade organisation? You need someone who is experienced in lobbying, who has connections in regulation and government and who has worked with the IFA community for a long time," he explained.
"Would it be a good idea for a former IFA to do that? Only if they have those capabilities and the desire to do it."
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| Comment | Gay: AIFA's achievements often go unrecognised |
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When is enough enough?
Let's dispel one myth. Lobbying the FSA, etc is one thing actually causing things to happen is entirely another. Adviser Alliance has lobbied the FSA and it's like talking to that dog in the back of your car that nods it head - that's all it does. Lobbying MPs is where we and other have made headway. AIFA, if you recall, told advisers not to lobby their MPs.
Posted by: Alan Lakey
Bye Bye Gay
SG may well have done 'all he could'. And his spec for the AIFA job is about right. But the incumbent and the AIFA need a philosophy. You have to understand that the Failed FSA is utterly unaccountable. One, none of its functionaries have any skin in the game. They have no risk for failure. Two, it is utterly democratically unaccountable. Just listen to Sants telling George Mudie MP where to go. And three it is not subject to the Rule of Law, as we would understand it. In fact it has confessed to 'making law'. Canary Wharf is not weher Law is made. Law is only made in Parliament. How can any of the foregoing be acceptable in any way in a free society? How is it allowed that a bunch of unelected and capricious functionaries can hold sway over the livlihoods and savings of millions of free citizens? Neither Gaye nor AIFA seem to have realised the foregoing. They have been captured by the bureaucratic mindset. There was no point at all at lobbying the failed FSA as its agenda was to ensure its own survival and self aggrandisment. What may have worked was fierce lobbying of MPs - from all sides of the House - as to the nature of the Terror that they had unleashed in Canary Wharf. But without a clear philosophy there was no chance that this was going to happen. We, the country, need people to stand up for liberty and autonomy, not just to lobby Failed FSA functionaries to amend some minor detail of some obscure rule, but to lobby for the immediate closure of the Failed FSA and the repeal of the disasterous FSMA 2000 which not only spawned all these appalling people but led directly to the biggest bust in history. The Biggest Bust being entirely the fault of the likes of the Failed FSA.
Posted by: Steven Farrall
Placeman
I have in on good authority Mr Gay had the best chance of his AIFA career he could have given the FOS a good kicking. But he decided to bury this truth. Good riddens placeman.
Posted by: incompetent regulators award team
Alan L's comment
It is certainly true that more headway has been made by individual IFAs approaching their constituency MPs than Aifa has made by, as Steven Farrall rightly says, lobbying the failed FSA. I trust Chris Hannant has given his decision to join this sinking (sunk?) ship sufficient thought. 3 directors have now left in, what, about 18 months? Makes you think doesn't it?
Posted by: Linda Cory
New AIFA Leader
Step up to the plate Alan Lakey or Neil Liversausage or Neil Warnock to sort out these bully boy/girl Regulators!
Posted by: B Clough
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Not enough
I don't think AIFA have done any thing like enough to fight our corner over the years. The biggest changes are happening in our industry and AIFA have done very little in my opinion, we voted with our feet a long-time ago and cancelled subscriptions to AIFA, money very well saved we think. Just another example of a group of people earning a living on the backs of hard workinging decent IFA's.
Posted by: Keith Ja