Institut québécois de planification financière and Financial Planning Standards Council Announce Strategic Partnership
IQPF will become a Proud Partner of FP Canada™ to advance professional financial planning for the benefit of all Canadians from coast to coast
CHARLEVOIX, QC, Sept. 28, 2018 /CNW/ - Institut québécois de planification financière (IQPF) and Financial Planning Standards Council (FPSC) are pleased to announce a new strategic partnership that will lay the groundwork for creating a unified Canada-wide financial planning profession. FPSC's Board of Directors previously announced that effective April 1, 2019, FPSC will become FP Canada: a national professional body with an expanded scope that includes elevating the practice of financial planning. Under the agreement announced today, IQPF will become a Proud Partner of FP Canada, enabling the two organizations to achieve a common goal of advancing professional financial planning for the benefit of all Canadians.
"Financial planning plays an essential role in helping individuals—not only in Québec but across the country and throughout the world—achieve financial health," says Julie Raîche, F.Pl., IQPF's Board Chair. "IQPF works to ensure that professional Financial Planners meet rigorous standards of competence, professionalism and ethics, and that they have adequate education, training, tools, resources and support to meet the needs of their clients. FPSC's creation of FP Canada and its shared goals with IQPF make this partnership between us a natural fit. As such, we're thrilled to become a Proud Partner of FP Canada."
IQPF and FPSC agree that to serve the needs of consumers today and into the future, financial planning must become a profession. Achieving that goal requires greater harmonization amongst the organizations leading the development of the profession, greater consistency in the profession's evolution and efficient use of resources towards that end across the country, while recognizing the provincial jurisdictions over professions in Canada.
"IQPF's participation as a Proud Partner of FP Canada will not only benefit Financial Planners from coast to coast, but also the financial services industry and its collective stakeholders, and most importantly, the Canadian public, by providing the harmonization needed to establish a cohesive Canada-wide financial planning profession," says Dan Busi, CFP®, FPSC's Board Chair.
Under this new strategic partnership, IQPF, and Financial Planners in Québec, will participate in the governance of FP Canada to achieve further unified standards and to establish a coordinated voice for the financial planning profession across the country. The partnership will create a formal mechanism for establishing a fully national strategy through a new joint strategy committee, with the goal of creating a stronger Canada-wide profession.
As part of the agreement, FP Canada will operate in both official languages to the extent possible, including providing a bilingual website.
"This announcement creates an alliance that will drive meaningful progress towards our shared goals and toward FP Canada's mandate of leading the advancement of professional financial planning," says Cary List, President and CEO of FPSC.
"IQPF and FPSC have had a strong relationship for many years," says Jocelyne Houle-LeSarge, President and CEO of IQPF. "Establishing IQPF's comprehensive participation as a Proud Partner of FP Canada further solidifies our bond, and positions both organizations for success in our efforts to foster better financial health for consumers."
About Financial Planning Standards Council
A professional standards-setting and certification body working in the public interest, FPSC's purpose is to drive value and instill confidence in financial planning. FPSC ensures those it certifies―Certified Financial Planner® professionals and FPSC Level 1® Certificants in Financial Planning―meet appropriate standards of competence and professionalism through rigorous requirements of education, examination, experience and ethics. There are more than 18,500 Financial Planners in Canada who have met, and continue to meet, FPSC's standards. More information is available at FPSC.ca and FinancialPlanningForCanadians.ca.
About Institut québécois de planification financière
The Institut québécois de planification financière (IQPF) is the only organization in Quebec authorized to grant financial planning diplomas and to establish rules concerning the ongoing professional development of professional Financial Planners. Only professionals recognized by the Institut québécois de planification financière are authorized to use the title of Financial Planner (F.Pl.) in Quebec. The IQPF is also the only organization in the province entirely dedicated to and reserved for Financial Planners. More information is available at IQPF.org.
SOURCE Financial Planning Standards Council
Megan Harman, Financial Planning Standards Council, [email protected], 416.593.8587, ext. 232 or 1.800.305.9886; Liette Pitre, Institut québécois de planification financière, [email protected], 514.767.4040 or 1.800.640.4050, ext. 235
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