Kaplan Professional Education has closed its acquisition of the College for Financial Planning (CFFP) as it expands its services for the wealth management space.
Kaplan Professional Education is a division of Kaplan Inc., based in La Crosse, Wis. It offers exam preparation for individuals seeking certifications such as the CIMA, CFA and CFP. The school has over 21,000 graduates who are financial professionals.
In December 2017, the division announced its agreement to acquire the Centennial, Colo.-based CFFP, which has credentialed 65,000 financial professionals, from the Apollo Education Group Inc. But Kaplan wasn’t able to complete the transaction until the regional postsecondary education accreditor Higher Learning Commission approved the acquisition.
Kaplan Professional’s president, Andrew Temte, said the acquisition was led in part by the expansion of artificial intelligence into robo-advice and the subsequent increase in automated functions. These changes have shifted the way financial firms carry out their services and build relationships with clients. Temte said this evolution would present an opportunity for two large professional educational institutions to work together to “provide a heightened level of service to the wealth management industry” and meet the “need for the average wealth manager to remain competitive and viable.”
“We aspire to take [a] very technical training program and blend in diagnostic and behavioral education tools and craft that wealth manager of the future,” said Temte.
He said Kaplan Professional has no plans to change the widely respected brand of the CFFP, which created the U.S.’s CFP certification. The CFP Board of Standards branched off from the college in 1985 to solely support the CFP designation.
The company’s logo has been retitled “College For Financial Planning, A Kaplan Company,” and Dirk Pantone will remain as the college’s president.
The only alteration Kaplan will make is to "enhance the role of the board of trustees to really guide and influence and strengthen the link between the college and the financial firms [both institutions] serve," said Temte, to help create “top performing wealth managers of the future."
The institute is also exploring avenues to provide education on financial technology (fintech) and regulatory technology (regtech).
Kaplan Professional completed the transaction in July for an undisclosed amount.