Ben Marshan · Marshan Consulting
When the rules change, I help associations shape them and their members put them into practice.
Financial services is home ground: advice, insurance broking, life insurance and wealth. The same work suits any profession whose rules are being rewritten.
Who I work with
Most of my work
Associations and professional bodies
Advocacy, codes and standards, and the support members need when the rules change.
Firms putting new rules into practice
Interpreting reform, regulatory strategy, board papers and training for the people who have to apply it.
Standards setters and educators
Practice guidance, curricula and accredited CPD, in Australia and overseas.
Clients include
Every draft gets read from four chairs
The practitioner's chair
Will this work in a real practice?
I test every clause against how advice and broking actually run day to day.
The regulator's desk
Will it survive a sceptical reading?
I draft for the regulator who will read it closely, not the one you hope for.
The board's side of the table
Can directors stand behind it?
Positions a board can defend when they are challenged, in the room and in public.
Your members' seat
Does it change what happens to them?
Your members, and their clients, are in the room when I draft, even though they're never at the table.
I've sat in every chair this work has to pass through, so I can read a draft from all four at once and fix it before anyone else has to.
Four situations where clients bring me in
Public work you can check
Global guidance
Practice Guidance Note: Use of AI in Financial Planning
Problem: Financial planners worldwide were adopting AI faster than their professional bodies could guide them.
My role: Primary author for FPSB, built on research across 3,700+ CFP professionals in 24+ territories.
Outcome: Published June 2026 for the global FPSB network.
Professional code
Insurance Brokers Code of Practice review
Problem: Insurance brokers' code needed rebuilding for a changed regulatory environment.
My role: Drafting the revised Code for NIBA across a two-round consultation.
Outcome: Consultation draft released to the profession in 2026.
Research
Data Storm
Problem: Wealth managers knew data was a problem but could not see where it broke.
My role: Research and authorship, commissioned by Elemnta.
Outcome: Published November 2024: exposing the real data challenges in Australian wealth management.
Essays and conversations
Every Chair
Australian financial services, from every seat it has to pass through.
Best Advice Podcast
With Fraser Jack and Ben Marshan. Leaders on the best advice they ever got.
Listen on YouTube · Spotify · Apple Podcasts · Audible