The Financial Planning Association (FPA) is using an advertising campaign to remind planners that they will have to hold an approved degree if they wish to become a practitioner member of the association after 1 July, 2013.
The advertising campaign, which will launch in trade media in April, will include posters — some of which read:
"After 1 July 2013, there will be two kinds of financial planners. Which kind will you be?"
Currently, financial planners joining the FPA must sign a code of conduct and ethics, have a diploma qualification and one year's work experience to become a practitioner member.
However, FPA chief executive Mark Rantall said new members would have to have an approved degree qualification after 1 July.
He said the campaign was a result of an FPA initiative launched two years ago aimed at raising standards in the financial planning sector.
"This campaign is in line with the FPA's continuous work in raising the bar for financial planning and our quest to turn financial planning into a respected profession in Australia," Rantall said.
In November last year, the FPA and the Financial Planning Education Council launched an approved national Accreditation and Curriculum Framework for financial planning degrees, ensuring a clear relationship between academia and the profession.
However, Rantall said education alone would not rid the profession of so-called "bad apples".
"Unfortunately, there are a few bad apples in each industry and financial planning is no different," he said.
"While FPA members already hold some of the highest educational and ethical standards in the industry, there are those in the industry who call themselves financial planners but are seemingly unaware of the specific competencies, training, licences, professional standing and services provided as part of that title."
He said this was why the FPA had lobbied for the enshrinement of the term ‘financial planner' into law, and expects the bill to be tabled in Parliament some time this week.
