TORONTO, June 25, 2002 – Professional financial advisors
and financial planners looking to differentiate themselves based on the quality of their
services will soon have a new home. Members of CAIFA, the Canadian Association of
Insurance and Financial Advisors, along with members of the Canadian Association of
Financial Planners (CAFP) have given their support to plans to form a new organization for
insurance, investment and financial planning professionals.
Today, both organizations released a revised discussion
document that outlines in detail how the two organizations plan to come together. Building
on an already well-established foundation of member services — practice management
programs, education, networking, information, the proposal sets out relevant standards and practice guidelines
for the professional advisors that will make up the membership of the new organization.
“This revised plan is a true reflection of all of the
comments we’ve heard since the original proposal was released in March,” said Brian
Mallard, chair of the CAIFA merger task force. “To their credit, the members of CAFP
and CAIFA recognized the need to differentiate themselves through the application of
higher standards. This proposal now reflects the best elements of CAIFA and CAFP.”
Support for a new, merged organization is strong. Separate
surveys of CAIFA and CAFP members both indicated levels of support in excess of 80 per
cent. The revised proposal has been posted on the Web sites of both associations.
“The earlier version of this proposal definitely
needed some fine-tuning. Both our respective memberships provided us with a lot of valuable input.
We listened and we made some key changes as a result,” said Brian Davis, chair of CAFP.
For example, the new organization will now have a single
category of members, rather than the two originally proposed. However, financial planners
who commit to voluntarily providing an advanced level of service to their clients will
have the ability to distinguish themselves through the “Plan Certified” program.
The peer review approach is also being reconsidered.
Members of both organizations will be participating in a
survey to determine their preference for a name for the new organization. Regardless of
the name chosen, it will be used with the defining tagline: “Insurance, Investment
and Financial Planning Professionals.”
CAFP and CAIFA members will formally vote on the merger
proposal at separate meetings of both associations planned for September 28, 2002. If
approved, the new organization would be officially inaugurated on January 1, 2003.
The Canadian Association of Financial Planners
is the membership organization for Canada’s practicing financial planning professionals.
Its 2,700 members have the ethics, the education, the experience, and the expertise to
help Canadians make the best financial decisions.
The Canadian Association of Insurance and Financial
Advisors (CAIFA) is a voluntary, not-for-profit professional association whose
members, gathered in 50 chapters, are represented in most major cities and towns across
the country. CAIFA is a founding member of the Financial Planners Standards Council
(FPSC), the body that grants the CFP designation. CAIFA members provide financial advice,
and market and sell financial products to over nine million Canadians.
To read the revised proposal in detail and the accompanying positioning document, please visit
CAIFA and CAFP’s Web sites at www.caifa.com and
www.cafp.org.
