FP Canada™ Announces Revised Disciplinary Rules and Procedures

Changes aim to improve transparency and ensure fairness for the benefit of professional financial planners and the Canadian public

TORONTO, Feb. 1, 2022 /CNW/ - The FP Canada Standards Council™, a division of FP Canada, has announced various changes to the FP Canada Standards Council Disciplinary Rules and Procedures (DRP) and the FP Canada Standards Council Disciplinary Rules and Procedures for Examination Misconduct (DPEM), which come into effect today. The changes are part of an ongoing effort by the Standards Council to ensure all policies are fair and transparent for the benefit of CFP® professionals, QAFP™ professionals, certification candidates and the Canadian public.

The DRP guides how the Standards Council conducts investigations into conduct by CFP professionals and QAFP professionals that may represent a breach of their ethical and professional responsibilities, as defined in the FP Canada Standards Council Standards of Professional Responsibility and establishes the process for disciplinary hearings. The DPEM guides how the Standards Council conducts investigations into allegations of candidate misconduct on FP Canada certification exams and the process for any disciplinary hearings arising from that misconduct.

Several of the changes to both the DRP and DPEM are focused on improving transparency. For example, under a change to the DRP, substantive motion decisions, which are decisions made on interim steps in a disciplinary proceeding, will now be published on the FP Canada website. This provides transparency to CFP professionals, QAFP professionals, other regulators and members of the public, and also provides helpful precedential materials to those involved with the process, which enhances fairness.

Another change reflecting increased transparency is the inclusion, in the DRP, of an enhanced process relating to decisions about whether an ongoing investigation will be disclosed publicly and/or whether an individual's certification should be suspended pending the outcome of an ongoing investigation and any related discipline proceeding, in the public interest. Hearing Panel decisions regarding such exceptional circumstances will now be published on FP Canada's website promoting fairness, transparency and supporting public interest protection.

Where appropriate, the changes to the DRP have been mirrored in the DPEM to ensure consistency.

"The FP Canada Standards Council is committed to ensuring that policies and procedures that govern our complaint intake, investigation and enforcement processes are fair, transparent, effective, and that they consider the interests of the public, the financial planning profession, and individual certificants," says Damienne Lebrun-Reid, Executive Director, Standards & Certification, and Head of the FP Canada Standards Council. "Regular reviews and updates to these rules help to keep them relevant and current, for the benefit of all stakeholders."

The full DRP and DPEM are available on the FP Canada website.

About FP Canada

A national certification and professional oversight body working in the public interest, FP Canada is dedicated to championing better financial wellness for all Canadians by leading the advancement of professional financial planning in Canada. There are about 17,000 CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER^® professionals and about 1,900 QUALIFIED ASSOCIATE FINANCIAL PLANNER™ professionals (as at December 31, 2021), who meet FP Canada's rigorous professional and ethical standards. Visit the FP Canada website for more information.

About the FP Canada Standards Council

A division of FP Canada, the FP Canada Standards Council establishes and enforces financial planning standards, sets the certification requirements for professional financial planners and develops and delivers certification examinations. The FP Canada Standards Council ensures FP Canada certificants―CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER professionals and QUALIFIED ASSOCIATE FINANCIAL PLANNER professionals―meet appropriate standards of competence and professionalism through rigorous requirements of education, examination, experience and ethics.

SOURCE FP Canada

For media inquiries, please contact: Megan Harman, FP Canada, [email protected]