“Revisions should be made. CFP Board should then allow a third comment period to permit consideration of these revisions,” the institute said.
CFP Standards should “require CFPs to be clear and transparent about all fees and conflicts in writing [and should require] material conflict disclosures, informed consent statements, and engagement agreements be in writing.” The standards also should “set out basic enforcement approaches,” the institute said.
“With these revisions, CFP Board can provide a reasonable basis for investors to believe that the standards will reliably deliver fiduciary advice,” the institute concluded.
Cheryl R. Holland, an institute member, president of Abacus Planning Group in Columbia, S.C., and a CFP, said, “We have a fiduciary duty on behalf of our clients that is not achieved under these standards. We are not yet a profession like doctors, lawyers or journalists. We are still an industry [and that does not change] under the new standards.”