Introducing the CISI's new Head of Financial Planning
Campbell John Edgar CFPTM Chartered FCSI tells us how he was tempted out of retirement to help integrate financial planning into the CISI
Why did you apply for the job?I had retired in July 2014 to look after my wife, who had been diagnosed with terminal cancer. Interestingly, it was only after consulting my personal financial plan and projected cash flow that I determined that I could stop work. I was doing some pro bono work for The Pensions Advisory Service (TPAS) and continued to sit on the Education and Standards Committee of the Financial Planning Standards Board (FPSB – UK). When the IFP merged with the CISI, I continued to help with work on the syllabus for a financial planning and advice exam.
Just before Easter I received a call from an old colleague, who drew my attention to an advert being run on a CISI financial planning update. She said that it “had my name all over it”. I thought about it, saw that the job specification required the skills and knowledge that I still retained, and decided that I had nothing to lose.
Is it what you expected?Yes and no. Yes, in that the CISI is well organised and structured, and prides itself on its levels of professionalism with a high regard for ethical behaviours. No, in as much as the primary focus is on qualifications and supplying member services. This is in contrast to the IFP, which was primarily a members’ organisation which also provided the CFP™ certification and Fellowship. This tension between the cultures will reduce as time progresses, but the enlarged CISI will undoubtedly benefit.
What’s in your in-tray?
The workload is varied. Jacqueline and I share the functions to ensure all bases are covered. Membership renewals issues are being resolved as the business support team step up to the plate. We have just had a very successful Paraplanner Conference (the first that the events team have had to do on this scale). The conference was remarkable for a financial services professional event in that the average age was under 40 and 75% of the delegates were women.Focus has shifted from the Accredited Financial Planning Firms™ Conference in June to the Financial Planning Annual Conference at Celtic Manor, 3–5 October. We have a large number of corporate sponsors who are keen to get involved in these events, and much time is spent ensuring that they get good value for their support.Finishing touches are being made to a new level 4 regulatory examination qualification, Financial Planning and Advice, which is the third exam in the trinity of papers which will enable newcomers to the profession to gain their qualifications in-house, without having to take exams provided by a third party. This exam, which goes live in August, will also form the pathway to the CFP certification, the internationally recognised benchmark qualification for financial planning professionals.
I am taking every opportunity to visit branches at CPD and networking events to meet members and to support financial planning topics being included in branch committees’ agendas.
What CISI forums and interest groups are relevant to those interested in financial planning and paraplanning?The CISI has a number of forums and interest groups, of which the two most relevant are the IFP Professional Forum and the Paraplanner Interest Group (interesting acronym!), and their committees. All the previous IFP members are automatically members of the IFP Forum, and it is from this group that the IFP Forum Committee is formed.
The Committee does not have an executive function but is very influential in the organisation of, and input to, conferences, working committees, CPD and networking events, as well as supporting the Institute in articulating its position with regulators and other third parties. Jacqueline and I are now co-opted members of the IFP Forum Committee.
The Paraplanner Interest Group exists because paraplanning is recognised as a career option in its own right and requires a different set of skills and attributes from the client-facing financial planner. It is currently discussing the definition of the paraplanner function and looking at a universal set of standards for paraplanning in practice.
This interview was originally published in the July edition of The Review.