Available for comment: Cary List, Financial Planning Standards Council

• Financial planning is critical to the well-being of Canadians.
• Anyone, outside of Quebec, can call themselves a financial planner.
• Lack of regulation has led to marketplace confusion.
• Canadians deserve better.

TORONTO, Sept. 15, 2015 /CNW/ - Cary List, President and CEO of the Financial Planning Standards Council® (FPSC), is available for comment regarding regulatory issues related to the financial planning profession, the importance of unified professional standards and the current gap in consumer protection.

Financial Planning Standards Council develops, promotes and enforces professional standards in financial planning through CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER® certification. There are currently 17,000 CFP® professionals across Canada (including 9,000 in Ontario) and 154,000 worldwide.

Financial Planning Standards Council, a non-profit standards-setter working in the public interest, has a 20-year history of leadership and expertise in the financial planning profession, and works diligently to safeguard and enhance the financial well-being of all Canadians.

BACKGROUND AND RESOURCES:

• Outside of Quebec, there are no title restrictions on who may call themselves a financial planner. In April 2015, the province of Ontario launched a review of regulations relating to financial advisors and planners to help investors and consumers make informed investment and financial choices, as well as enhance oversight in this sector. The Expert Committee is receiving submissions until September 21, 2015. FPSC will be making a submission that calls for the recognition of financial planning as a licensed profession.
  
  
• During Financial Planning Week (November 15-21), an integral part of Financial Literacy Month, FPSC is pleased to welcome Ontario Minister of Finance Charles Sousa as a keynote speaker at the Celebration of the Profession Dinner on November 17. Media are invited to attend.
  
  
• Cary List recently published a national op ed, Canadians deserve a qualified financial planner, which summarizes the core issues around the gap in consumer protection.
  
  
• A Matter of Trust: Protecting Canadians' Financial Futures provides a summary of the regulatory framework being proposed by the Financial Planning Coalition, whose mandate supports statutory requirements for financial planners in the public interest.
  
  
• FPSC and the Institut québécois de planification financière (IQPF) recently published the first-ever unified set of financial planning standards, Canadian Financial Planning Definitions, Standards & Competencies.

SOURCE Financial Planning Standards Council

For more information, or to request an interview with Cary List, please contact: Tania Freedman, Director Public Relations & Corporate Communications, Financial Planning Standards Council, P: 416.593.8587 x235, 1.800.305.9886, E: [email protected], www.fpsc.ca