IFP Professional Forum Chairman: May
Planners should be able to expect an FCA dividend as a reward for good practice, writes Alan Dick CFPTM Chartered MCSI
One of the key reasons for the merger of the IFP with the CISI was the massively increased potential it offered to grow the profession of financial planning for the benefit of consumers.
At the 2015 IFP Annual Conference, Rory Percival of the FCA asked me what being a required professional meant to me. I waffled about the combination of knowledge and skills to deliver real benefits to clients rather than simply knowledge and exams for their own sake or to keep the regulator happy.
The next day I reflected that it means doing things right all the time so that the regulator does not even need to think about our profession, because it knows that this is the case.
What can we do to make the seismic shift from the current perception of an industry that sells stuff and needs to be regulated, to a profession which always puts the client first and behaves accordingly? One area is social media. If we are to succeed in reaching out to future entrants to our profession, we must show all that is good about financial planning and how it helps clients change their lives. Financial planners do not change people’s lives for them of course, only clients can do that. However, I have seen countless examples of situations where a good planner provided the framework and acted as the sounding board for clients to solve their own problems. We need to tell more people about the value of planning and changing more lives whether directly or indirectly.
Knowledge is key to being able to help clients – advice without the knowledge is just plain dangerous. Qualifications are vital to demonstrate that knowledge. They can help give clients and the FCA the confidence that planners are competent. Therefore, it is great news that the CISI level 4 exam will provide a pathway for those new to the profession on their route to CFPTM certification. As a fully fledged profession, we should be able to expect a regulatory dividend as reward for the FCA not needing to worry about us. We should also expect to see more attractive PI terms as we pose a significantly lower risk than other business models.
This will help clients and the media appreciate the good that we do rather than looking for examples of poor practice to support preconceived ideas. I fear it will be some time before we experience those benefits, but every journey starts with a single step and we need to be marching together in the same direction if we are going to elevate financial planning to a recognised profession.
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