New National Professional Body FP Canada™ Launches to Lead the Advancement of Professional Financial Planning

TORONTO, April 1, 2019 /CNW/ - Today marks the official launch of FP Canada: a national professional body dedicated to advancing professional financial planning. Formerly known as Financial Planning Standards Council (FPSC), FP Canada has assumed all of FPSC's previous responsibilities, including setting and enforcing financial planning standards and certifying financial planners. Beyond those important functions, FP Canada has an expanded scope that includes a new division, the FP Canada Institute™, which is dedicated to elevating the practice of financial planning.

FP Canada's new website, FPCanada.ca, also launches today, and will soon be provided in both official languages.

"For more than two decades, FPSC has worked vigilantly in the public interest to ensure financial planners are held to the highest professional and ethical standards," says Dan Busi, CFP^®, Chair of FP Canada's Board of Directors. "FP Canada will carry on that legacy and build upon it. With its expanded mandate, FP Canada is positioned to make unprecedented strides in advancing professional financial planning for the benefit of all Canadians."

The Institute offers professional education for aspiring and existing financial planners as well as various professional support tools. The Institute's education programs will fill an important gap in the existing education landscape for financial planners, by helping planners develop or enhance their professional skills in areas such as communication, behavioural economics and ethics.

The FP Canada Standards Council™ division is responsible for establishing and enforcing financial planning standards, setting requirements for FP Canada's certification programs—Certified Financial Planner^® certification and Qualified Associate Financial Planner™ certification (QAFP™ certification)*—and developing and delivering certification examinations.

In tandem with the launch of FP Canada, the FP Foundation has been renamed the FP Canada Research Foundation™. A registered charity, the Foundation funds and disseminates ground-breaking public interest research that will help financial planners meet the increasingly complex needs of today's clients. The Foundation's new website can be accessed at FPCanadaResearchFoundation.ca.

As previously announced, FP Canada has also formed a strategic partnership with Institut québécois de planification financière (IQPF), the only organization in Québec authorized to grant financial planning diplomas. With IQPF on board as a proud partner of FP Canada, FP Canada will now be able to further unify standards for financial planners across the country, and will establish a coordinated voice for the financial planning profession in Canada. As part of this partnership, FP Canada will operate in both official languages to the extent possible.

"The launch of FP Canada is an exciting milestone for the financial planning profession in Canada," says Cary List, President and CEO of FP Canada. "FP Canada is much more than just a new name. With a broader scope and a brand new Institute division, FP Canada creates a centralized professional body that supports all elements of the financial planning profession, in an integrated way."

*Effective Jan. 1, 2020, FPSC Level 1^® Certification in Financial Planning will be replaced by QAFP certification.

About FP Canada

A national professional body working in the public interest, FP Canada™ (formerly known as Financial Planning Standards Council) is dedicated to fostering better financial health for Canadians by leading the advancement of professional financial planning in Canada. There are approximately 18,500 professional financial planners in Canada who have met, and continue to meet, FP Canada's standards.

SOURCE FP Canada

Megan Harman, FP Canada, [email protected], 416.593.8587, ext. 232 or 1.800.305.9886