I read with interest this week that the term “Financial Planner” has been recognised legally in Australia, writes Simon Culhane, Chartered FCSI, CISI chief executive.

This is a profound moment for Australian consumers as they can now be assured of the probity and integrity of professionals they meet who are calling themselves Financial Planners.

Considering the amount of negotiation this would have involved this is also a momentous achievement for the Financial Planning and Paraplanning professions in Australia. It would have taken many years to reach this level of parliamentary legislation.

The launch of the Chartered Body Alliance on 1 March shows that the financial services sector in the UK is paving the way for joint initiatives for the members of the founding bodies - ie ourselves, the CII and the Chartered Banker Institute. We’ve come together to promote professionalism in financial services for the public good and provide a united voice on standards for financial services.

Our launch has been welcomed by the Financial Planning community and our ultimate aim is for the UK public to understand at a glance that engaging a Financial Planner, at every and any point in a lifetime, is a force for good.

Professionally qualified Financial Planners can, and do, profoundly improve financial circumstances and futures.

Part of the Alliance’s responsibility is to demonstrate to the public that in choosing a Certified Financial Planner^TM professional or Chartered Financial Planner they can be confident that their chosen professional, is qualified to the highest standards, adheres to a professional body Code of Conduct and can be trusted.

To move this forward we are planning a marketing and advertising campaign, the first major project undertaken by the Chartered Body Alliance in raising the awareness of the importance of choosing a professional from a Chartered body.

Qualifications and CPD are integral to professionalism and members of the Alliance have always recognised elements of each other’s qualifications.

As the Alliance evolves we will be further exploring opportunities for increased portability of our respective qualifications. Similarly, there will be more opportunities for mutual recognition of CPD activity as the Alliance will run joint events. This will build on the elements of CPD reciprocity already in place between the three individual bodies.

So there is strength in unity and we look forward to building on the launch of the Alliance for the benefit of the consumer, Financial Planners, Paraplanners and our wider joint financial services sector membership.