The Financial Planning Association (FPA) chief executive, Dante De Gori has sought to address member confusion and anger around the new Financial Adviser Standard and Ethics Authority (FASEA) guidance by reinforcing that the FPA will be negotiating hard on their behalf.
In doing so, De Gori used a question and answer session on Twitter to also reinforce that the FPA was not FASEA and that the position outlined by FASEA in its December guidance was not that of the FPA.
De Gori sought to reinforce the fact that in circumstances where the FASEA had outlined a position and a consultation process, much would depend on the outcome of the consultations.
“We have a proposal from FASEA and a consultation process,” he told members. “The importance is not so much the ‘100 points’ but the position of recognising existing studies & CPD to count towards degree equivalence. Watch this space.”
“This is about having a degree qualification as the new entry framework for financial planning. The FPA supports this. The question is how do you transition existing planners into this new framework and we support recognition of CPD & all studies completed to help,” the FPA chief executive said.
Reflecting the sort of negative member feedback being received by the FPA, De Gori sought to draw a line under his organisation’s role in the FASEA process, particularly with respect to the status of the Financial Planning Education Council (FPEC) by outlining what he saw as three myths.
Myth buster 1: FPA is NOT FASEA. The proposed standard on education for existing financial planners is not produced by the FPA.
Myth Buster 2: FPEC is owned by the FPA, however it is independently chaired and operates independently of the FPA – that is it has complete autonomy of approving education courses as prescribed by its Charter.
Myth Buster 3: The FPEC list of approved degrees is designed for entry into the CFP program as per its charter. Degrees that are not on the list does not mean they are any less appropriate or qualified – this issue is something we are investigating on how to resolve.
