On December 9, 2008, the three major financial planning organizations in the United States — Certified Financial Planner Board of Standards, Inc., the Financial Planning Association^®, and the National Association of Personal Financial Advisors — announced that they would work together to pursue consumer protection and industry reform. This announcement culminated in the formation of the Financial Planning Coalition.

The Statement of Understanding of the Financial Planning Coalition is available here.

Members of the Financial Planning Coalition will collaborate as Congress undertakes regulatory reform to achieve the following objectives:

• Financial planning services are delivered to the public with fiduciary accountability and transparency, serving the client's best interest first and always.
• Financial planning services are specifically regulated to distinguish and differentiate professionals who have met essential requirements to practice, including, examination, education, experience and ethics as modeled and enforced by the CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER™ certification.
• The public can easily identify who is a financial planner and subject to these standards.

Study: SRO for Investment Advisers Would Likely Cost at least Twice as Much as an Adequately Funded SEC

On December 15, 2011, The Boston Consulting Group (BCG) released a study on the likely costs of implementing SEC recommendations for increased oversight of investment advisers. In a survey conducted by BCG, more than 80% of IAs said they would prefer to pay user fees to fund enhanced SEC oversight. CFP Board, the Financial Planning Association, the Investment Adviser Association, the National Association of Personal Financial Advisors, and TD Ameritrade Institutional commissioned the study and a survey of investment advisers in response to calls for additional analysis of the recommendations in the SEC's study under Section 914 of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act. Read more >

2011 Year-End Update from Financial Planning Coalition

On November 29, 2011, the Financial Planning Coalition partners delivered a year-end update to their respective stakeholders and members. The update highlights the Coalition's activities with regard to several key provisions of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, its work with CFP® professionals and FPA and NAPFA members to advocate for strong consumer protections in support of the financial planning profession, and its ongoing commitment to working toward the shared vision and objectives outlined in the Coalition's Statement of Understanding.

Financial Planning Coalition Responds to Investment Adviser SRO Proposal

On September 13, 2011, in a prepared statement for the record before the House Financial Services Subcommittee on Capital Markets and Government Sponsored Enterprises, the Financial Planning Coalition told Congress that the concept of creating a new self-regulatory organization (SRO) for investment advisers, as provided in the discussion draft released by House Financial Services Committee Chairman Spencer Bachus (R-Ala.), is unneeded; would add a layer of regulation and impose costs that could be particularly burdensome for small business owners; and may not significantly improve protection for investors. The Coalition expressed serious concerns regarding the possibility of FINRA being designated as such an SRO and urged Congress to put the interests of investors and small businesses first by supporting the SEC as it moves forward to establish a strong and uniform fiduciary standard of conduct for broker-dealers and investment advisers.

At One Year Anniversary of Dodd-Frank, Not All Americans Covered by Fiduciary Standard

On July 21, 2011, the Financial Planning Coalition issued a news release noting that one year after the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act became law, American investors still aren't getting the fiduciary protection envisioned by Congress. In the news release, the Financial Planning Coalition urges the Securities and Exchange Commission to move forward with plans to apply a fiduciary standard to anyone providing personalized investment advice. Read more >

Online Petition Urging SEC to Extend Fidcuciary Standard

On June 23, 2011, the Financial Planning Coalition delivered to the SEC and Congressional leaders a letter, accompanied with a petition signed by more than 5,200 financial planners, urging the SEC to move forward with rulemaking extending the fiduciary standard of care to all financial professionals who provide investment advice to consumers.

Financial Planning Coalition Responds to GAO Study on Regulation of Financial Planners

The Financial Planning Coalition issued a statement in response to the findings of a Government Accountability Office (GAO) study on the regulation of financial planners. "The study will help inform our ongoing discussions with policymakers and will provide an important building block in our efforts to achieve recognition of the rapidly growing financial planning profession," said Charles A. Moran, CFP®, 2011 Chair of CFP Board's Board of Directors.

Financial Planning Coalition Responds to SIFMA’s Impact Assessment

On November 30, 2010, the Financial Planning Coalition sent a letter to the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), responding to comments provided by the Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association (SIFMA) that set out to assess the impact of applying the Advisers Act to all brokerage activity, and urging the SEC to adopt a strong and uniform fiduciary standard for both broker-dealers and investment advisers when making personalized recommendations to retail customers.

Financial Planning Coalition Urges SEC to Extend Fiduciary Standard of Care

On August 30, 2010, the Financial Planning Coalition, in a letter to the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), asked that the fiduciary standard of care — a key investor protection for all Americans who are investing for college, retirement and other needs — be extended to broker-dealers and other financial professionals who provide personalized investment advice to retail customers.

Financial Planning Coalition Urges Congress to Adopt Stronger Investor Protections

On June 23, 2010, the Financial Planning Coalition submitted a letter to Congressional leaders negotiating regulatory reform legislation urging them to oppose provisions which would have failed to meet the stated goal of requiring that brokers who provide investment advice about securities have the same fiduciary obligations as investment advisers and which would preempt the SEC's authority to regulate equity indexed annuities. The Coalition urged the conferees to make critical changes to the fiduciary standard provision to protect investors.

Results of New Poll Indicate Overwhelming Public Support of Establishing Standards for Financial Planning

On February 16, 2010, the Financial Planning Coalition sent a letter to the U.S. Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs announcing results of new poll indicating overwhelming public support for higher standards for financial planning. The Coalition urged the Committee to include regulation of financial planners as part of the Financial Regulatory Bill currently under consideration by Congress. Read the letter and poll results summary >

Financial Planning Coalition Opposes FINRA Oversight of Advisers

On November 3, 2009, the Financial Planning Coalition wrote to Members of the House Committee on Financial Services to express its opposition to an amendment to the Investor Protection Act of 2009 that would extend the regulatory authority of the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) to cover investment advisers who are associated with broker-dealers under FINRA’s authority. Read more.

Webinar: Call to Action – Financial Planner Oversight Board

On October 19, 2009, the Financial Planning Coalition hosted a Webinar to provide CFP® certificants with an overview of the Coalition’s proposal for a national oversight board for financial planners, share updates on progress made to date, and address ways CFP® certificants can demonstrate support of the proposal. View the presentation slides >

Financial Planning Coalition Statement for House Committee on Financial Services Hearing

On October 6, 2009, the Financial Planning Coalition submitted a statement to the House Committee on Financial Services supporting the creation of a professional oversight board that would establish baseline competency, practice, and ethics standards for financial planners and advisors, and require adherence to a stringent fiduciary standard of care. The statement was submitted at a committee hearing titled, “Capital Markets Regulatory Reform: Strengthening Investor Protection, Enhancing Oversight of Private Pools of Capital, and Creating a National Insurance Office.” The Financial Planning Coalition’s statement is available here.

Financial Planning Coalition Testimony at House Committee on Financial Services Hearing

The Financial Planning Coalition was invited to testify at a House Committee on Financial Services hearing titled “Industry Perspectives on the Obama Administration’s Financial Regulatory Reform Proposals” on July 17, 2009. The Financial Planning Coalition’s statement is available here.

To learn more, visit the Financial Planning Coalition’s Web site.