The FP Canada Standards Council™ is a division of FP Canada™. Its mandate is to set, maintain and enforce financial planning standards that protect the public interest, thereby fostering trust in professional financial planners.
2021 HIGHLIGHTS
Key achievements for the FP Canada Standards Council in 2021 were:
- Continued flexible delivery of certification exams, giving candidates the choice to write in-person at test centres or remotely through online proctoring, with a third exam administration added for increased access
- Development of two new rules of conduct regarding certificants’ use of technology
- Updates to the Disciplinary Rules and Procedures to support continued transparency
- Review of FP Canada Standards Council Competency Profile to ensure relevancy.
Volunteers play important roles to support mandate
Many volunteers make it possible for the Standards Council to deliver on its mandate for the benefit of FP Canada certificants and all Canadians:
- The Standards Panel, the Conduct Review Panel and the Hearing Panel Roster provide independent oversight to set the standards of the profession and to enforce them. The panels’ membership reflects a breadth of diversity in terms of experience, gender, ethnicity and geography.
- The CFP® Exam Panel and the QAFP™ Exam Panel oversee the development of the certification exams to ensure they appropriately assess the competence of candidates and establish the passing standard for each respective exam. Many other professionals volunteer their time and expertise as item writers, mock exam writers and exam markers.
THE STANDARDS COUNCIL
SETS AND OVERSEES CERTIFICATION REQUIREMENTSThe Standards Council sets the certification requirements for Certified Financial Planner® professionals and Qualified Associate Financial Planner™ professionals and develops and delivers certification exams. It ensures that FP Canada certificants continue to meet the required standards of competence and professional behaviour through continuing education.
CONDUCT REVIEW PANEL OUTCOMES
In 2021, Guidance and Advice was issued on:
- Failure to act with integrity, fairness and/or professionalism, or to act in the client’s best interests
- Failure to perform due diligence or to disclose information to the client in writing
- Failure to make only those recommendations and implementation strategies that are both prudent and appropriate for the client or to act with reasonable and prudent professional judgement
- Using personal and/or confidential client information without the written and informed consent of the clients
2021 HEARING PANEL OUTCOMES
In 2021, with a view of increasing access and promoting transparency for certificants, stakeholders and the public, FP Canada launched a new tool on its website allowing users to search published cases by year, conduct type, keyword(s) or open text. A certificant’s disciplinary history is also linked to their profile on the Find a Planner Tool.
