Why did you decide to apply for the job?Since leaving the Association of Investment Companies 18 months ago, I have been spending more time at home supporting my son and working part-time on financial planning and advice areas with various companies, including the CISI. That
has included being a CFP™ certification assessor. As time went on I felt I wanted
to get more involved, and, as I’m still very passionate about financial planning, I thought it would be right up my street. Being able to work alongside
Campbell again is also a bonus. Knowing someone who knows you well and that can be relied on right from day one is a huge boost.
You worked at the Institute of Financial Planning from 1999 to 2002. How does it compare to working at the CISI?Everything is on a much bigger scale at the CISI. When I was Director of Training and Education at the Institute of Financial Planning (IFP), it was very hands-on, with limited resources. There were so many things we wanted to do but just couldn’t. Being part of a much larger organisation is proving invaluable because I can call on many individuals in other teams for help and support to make improvements to member benefits and the CFP certification assessment, and support the level 4 examination pathway.
What is the biggest challenge you face and how do you intend to overcome it?There are several large and looming challenges. First, to grow the numbers of people who do financial planning, not just advisers but also paraplanners. That will include more financial advisers who turn to planning, as well as wealth managers. Second, to help overhaul the assessment and to support the membership and help with relevant content of events. Finally, I feel it is important to support the CISI staff and help them understand what financial planning really is.
How do you think the integration has gone since the merger?I have been staggered by the amount of work going on behind the scenes by a large number of people trying hard to sort various issues out and make the transition as smooth as possible. The transition has caused some issues with communications with members, and we are working hard to correct this. I hope that by the time you read this, all will be settled and we can move forward together to spread the word about financial planning.
What do you expect to achieve over the next one and five years?I hope that in the next 12 months we can ensure that the old IFP membership is settled and happy in the new structure. That starts with improving our communications with you all, and I hope you will have already noticed our regular email bulletins. These will start to incorporate much more information and blogs from me, as well as a revamped quarterly magazine with lots of monthly content going up online too. I expect real progress on the review of our existing CFP certification assessment and development of an alternative. But you can be sure of one thing, that won’t dumb down the standards required or make it easier! The CFP examination is an assessment of application of technical knowledge – you can’t write the right answer next to the wrong answer and get full marks!
Longer-term we will be looking to the membership to guide us on the way it wants to move forward. Expansion of the CFP to more firms across the UK and supplying specialist information and support to paraplanners will be at the forefront of our progress. A boost to the regions’ networks of meetings, CISI TV and other media platforms will help support that. We are also continuing to develop exam workbooks and ebooks with videos to support the examinations and help others learn how to actually do financial planning.
What’s happening in the immediate future?Well, July will see the last edition of the
Financial Planner magazine. However, this is not another nail in the coffin for financial planning from the CISI (I can hear some of you moaning already). All of the content that you know and love, and much more is being transferred to the newly revamped version of
The Review magazine. With the help and guidance of our Editorial Panel, we are delving much deeper into subjects that will inform and develop all our knowledge in different areas.
I look forward to hearing what you all think about it. There is also the annual
Financial Planning Annual Conference, 3–5 October, at the Celtic Manor in Newport. I’m very pleased with the program of events for the three days and we have some new and exciting speakers for you all.
This interview was originally published in the July edition of The Review