A former IFP President believes any ‘fence sitters’ who have been unwilling to accept the merger with the CISI “will return to the fold”.

Tomorrow marks the first anniversary since the professional bodies got together after the CISI paid £366,160 to “acquire the members and intellectual property”.

At the recent CISI Financial Planning Conference, members were urged to get behind the new organisation – especially those who had been ‘grumpy’ or sceptical about it.

Chartered Financial Planner Julie Lord, who now runs Magenta Financial Planning, told Financial Planning Today magazine she has been pleased with the way the CISI has handled the move.

In her exclusive column, out later this month, she wrote: “Over 82% of IFP members have renewed their membership with the CISI and I suspect that the "fence sitters" will return to the fold when they fully understand the commitment to the development of their profession.”

She said: “The hunger for Financial Planning knowledge within the CISI indicates that the integration is going well. No merger is without its hiccoughs but the investment being made by the CISI to grow the number of Financial Planners and Paraplanners in the UK is impressive.”

“All in all it seems that things are moving forward very positively and it is great to hear that the IFP Professional Forum will continue to influence the direction of travel and that the Financial Planning department headed by Campbell Edgar and Jacque Lockie will be concentrating on public education and working with the international Financial Planning Standards Board on their social media campaign #Lifesbetter and #CFPexcellence.”

She added: “Now that the PFS and other bodies including the FCA, are starting to understand proper Financial Planning, it looks as if my banging on about it for the last 25 years, might just have been worthwhile!”

For Ms Lord’s full column see issue 3 of Financial Planning Today magazine – out on 17 November.

What are your views on the merger and how it’s going so far?

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