It was a pleasure to catch up with the Financial Planning Standards Board (FPSB) European forum in Frankfurt this February, writes IFP chief executive Nick Cann.
I am the current chair and with so much happening in Europe, it was decided that we would benefit from an extra meeting. The meeting included representatives from Austria, France, Germany, Holland, Ireland, Switzerland and the UK, as well as FPSB chief executive Noel Maye. While all seven countries offer Certified Financial Planner^CM certification, there are key differences in how they approach Financial Planning practice.
Regulation and the RDR are stories that mainland Europe doesn't want to hear about. There is little evidence of consumers there being prepared to pay fees or embracing Financial Planning in the main. As a result, there would be inevitable difficulties for certain segments of the advisory community if commission was banned as it has been here.
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Followers of the international story will have seen the recent headline showing the global growth of CFP^CM certification, with almost 150,000 CFP professionals now practicing. Numbers in Europe remain steady as many nations are slow to embrace Financial Planning or the higher level qualification that CFP certification demands. Banks and insurance companies continue to control distribution of advisory services across mainland Europe and there appears to be genuine resistance to investing in education programmes that will undoubtedly differentiate and lead to better client outcomes, as well as better careers for the advisers themselves.
The main focus of our meeting was to understand where there was common ground with the standards being delivered by the seven European affiliates. This becomes crucial if as a group we are going to engage more effectively with regulators, Brussels, international firms and the consumer.
These are exciting times to be involved with the Financial Planning profession and now that the European group is able to unite behind some common messages, we might even be able to teach the politicians a thing or two! The next FPSB meeting will be held in Hong Kong in April.

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