CFPs mull future of pinnacle mark

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The head of Financial Advice NZ's committee overseeing CFP says, if CFPs aren't happy with the association controlling the mark, they can ask for change.

Friday, March 8th 2019, 6:00AM 4 Comments

Simon Hassan

The administration of the mark moved from IFA to Financial Advice NZ when the new association was formed. To retain their CFP credentials, advisers have to be a member of the association. There are currently about 285 CFPs in New Zealand.

But, because it has a much wider membership base than IFA, Financial Advice NZ has been asked how it will juggle the promotion of CFP with the need to promote its own quality mark, and its goal of boosting the visibility of financial advisers more generally.

Simon Hassan, who is chair of the Financial Advice NZ certification committee, which manages the CFP mark, said it was a tough balance for the association.

If CFPs felt they were not well represented, they had other options, he said. Control of the mark could be shifted if 10% requested a review by the Financial Planning Standards Board.

“It’s always been a possibility. The preference is to work with the parent body and do the best we can to have that succeed.”

He said the question of how Financial Advice NZ would promote its own quality mark was problematic for CFPs. “Having Financial Advice NZ holding the mark and trying to represent other kinds of advisers as well, you’ll always get jealousies that come out.”

The law and code of conduct encapsulated what it meant to be a professional anyway, he said, leaving a small amount of room for professional marks to carve out space. “The CFP is trying to have a higher qualification and so is the professional body.”

Adviser and CFP-holder Nigel Tate said transferring control was something that could be considered.

"I don’t feel at this stage that there is sufficient dissatisfaction for that to occur and it is unlikely for this to become clearer until well after the new code of professional conduct is installed and Financial Advice NZ has responded to it."

Stephen O'Connor, who has a long association with the Financial Planning Standard Board and is a director of Financial Advice New Zealand, said it was unlikely the FSPB would approve CFPs having their own body and there was no other logical place for the CFP mark to go.

The small number of CFPs in New Zealand would not have the resources to do the licence justice without a bigger association behind them, he said.

He said, with the number of Kiwi CFPs declining, something needed to be one to get more people to want to achieve it. "It's about building the pathway and we've got work to do around that."

CFP advisers could help, too, he said, by promoting the standard, and holding it up as a global mark of excellence.

Financial Advice NZ chief executive Katrina Shanks said, while the number of CFP-holders was down, there was an increasing number of people beginning the process to qualify. Twelve people were under way at present, she said.

She said the existence of AFA/RFA designations had reduced advisers' desire for a way to differentiate themselves, but in the new environment, where everyone would be classed as "financial advisers", there would be more demand for pinnacle marks.

Hassan agreed there was still demand for the CFP mark and that would strengthen in the coming years.

Financial Advice NZ could bolster the mark by opening it to people who were not members of the association, he said, or a new group could take over and do the same. “That would be a way of getting the numbers up.”

Tags: CFP Financial Advice New Zealand Simon Hassan

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