Membership

Benefits of membership

It gives members a voice.
It builds and maintains relationships with regulators, politicians and officials in key areas relevant to members.
It operates as a conduit between members and the public sector on a range of issues from taxation to business law.
It identifies industry concerns with regulatory issues and advocates change.
It obtains and provides legal (or accounting) opinions in relation to these from its professional advisers and makes these available to members as well as drawing on these when making submissions to Government.
It is consulted on proposals at the policy development stage and exerts influence before and during the legislative development stage.

It has links with other finance sector associations, including in particular the
Bankers’ Association, and works with them on common issues.
It maintains contact with other associations in particular the Retailers Association
and the motor vehicle associations.
It maintains contacts with private sector ombudsmen and has in place a
complaint transfer arrangement.
It operates a complaint service for clients/customers of members and
communicates with consumer organisations on this.
It has links with and/or is an associate of counterpart industry bodies in
Australia, Canada, UK and USA.

It achieved practical modifications to the Credit Contract and Consumer Finance Act.
It has modified the application of numerous statutes.
It had term investments exempted from most of the ID requirements of the Financial Transactions Act.
It obtained a variety of exemptions from the Securities Regulations.
Many provisions of PPSA have been made more business friendly.
It has fought erosion of the rights of secured parties.

It keeps them up-to-date on legislative and regulatory issues.
It provides concise and focused material about trends in specific markets through publications, reports, market analysis and access to the member area of the FSF website. It also produces research for members on a one-off basis.
It offers the opportunity to participate in a monthly business survey.
It organises meetings at which members can share their views and network with one another.

Because joining the FSF is voluntary, it has the incentives to be both responsive to member concerns/information needs and to operate in a cost-effective manner.

Membership growth has allowed subscription levels to fall over recent years.
As member needs vary considerably a range of services are provided from which members are able to take what they need to give their membership value.