Finsia credential does not clash with CFP

Multiple credentials part of learning process

By Wouter Klijn
Thu 29 Jul 2010

The FPA has questioned the new Finsia credentials, but the firm's chief says the credential will be targeted to a broader market.

The Financial Services Institute of Australasia's (Finsia) new financial services credential will not clash with existing designations in the financial planning industry, including the FPA's certified financial planner (CFP) designation, according to the organisation.

The new credential will be much broader in its target market and will focus on professional capabilities and peer review, rather than the educational standards that most other designations are based on.

"This is very much about a uniform standard across the industry," Finsia chief executive Martin Fahy said.

"If you look at the financial services value chain, what this credential is doing is bringing a uniform standard for a professional credential right from the advice space all the way back to the fund management, asset consultants, right back up to the business banking, capital markets, and on into the alternative sector," he said.

Although some financial advisers have expressed their concerns about the existence of multiple designations, Fahy said the continuous development of higher standards was an inherent part of the industry.

"[The credential] recognises that increasingly people will be poly-affiliated, and poly-credentialed. This is the nature of life-long learning," he said.

Fahy said he had received positive feedback from industry associations and financial institutions on the credential.

"I think what people saw was that this is a different category of credential. It is unique in its features - it goes across the industry and it goes beyond education," Fahy said.

Association of Financial Advisers chief executive Richard Klipin welcomed the new credential.

"Anything that promotes life-long learning should be supported," Klipin said.

But FPA deputy chief executive and head of professionalism Deen Sanders said that although there was always room for good quality education, he was concerned about the way Finsia has been marketing the new credential.

"They have made more noise in the financial planning space than is necessary for the qualification," Saunders said.

"I think they are more aimed at an executive funds management market," he said.

He also questioned whether the new credential could be compared with the CFP designation.

"I don't necessarily see that it is comparable to the CFP," he said.

"The CFP is a professional designation in 23 countries. It is globally recognised by regulators and consumers."

Finsia has a budget of $12 million to develop and roll out the new credential program over the next four years.

Fahy expects the first candidates to start the course in the fourth quarter of this year.

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