Paraplanners have been urged to get involved in the CISI’s new Paraplanners Interest Group.

The initiative is being led by Richard Allum CFPCM Chartered MCSI and Farida Hassanali CFPCM Chartered MCSI.

Both sit on the CISI Financial Planning Forum committee, which was created following the merger with the Institute of Financial Planning. Their presence means that Paraplanners comprise 20 per cent of the committee.

The Paraplanners Interest Group follows on from the old IFP Paraplanner Committee, which was set up by Mr Allum in 2012.

He said: “We brought together a small number of Paraplanners – both IFP members and non-members – who were committed to the profession, willing to share ideas and ready to offer valuable feedback. The committee was responsible for helping produce the Paraplanner Conference, the dedicated CPD Day, new initiatives such as ‘ask a Paraplanner’, and providing support as mentors.

“With last year’s merger of the IFP with CISI behind us, it’s time for the Paraplanning community to look forward to the benefits of our new, larger, professional body.

“The CISI is really interested in Paraplanners and focused on developing support for the community – both members and non-members.

“Despite the former IFP committees being disbanded, the expertise, skill and dedication of members remains as a result of the integration with existing CISI committees.

“Paraplanners – however – are a relatively new thing to CISI and there isn’t a ready-made committee for us to slot in to. This is not an unfamiliar dilemma for Paraplanners and, being a resourceful lot, we’re tackling it by doing something a bit different.”

He said this is where the new Paraplanners Interest Group comes in. This will enable members and non-members to meet, attend presentations from senior practitioners, and engage in open discussion on issues relating to Paraplanning.

Mr Allum and Ms Hassanali have been discussing the new group with CISI’s new assistant director of member services, Alex Xavier, and Lydia Romero, global director of learning, to get it off the ground.

The annual Paraplanner Conference, a regular IFP event, is set to continue and takes place at the end of May.

Mr Allum said: “The success of these events – as well as the generation of new ideas – have always depended on the input from the Paraplanning community and that will be even more important post-merger."

Mr Allum had this message for fellow Paraplanners: “Join in and contribute. Whether that’s by volunteering to stand up and share how you do things, letting us know about a really good speaker, telling us your great idea, or sharing your opinion about our plans.

“No matter what, you can contact me by email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..”