The Certified Financial Planner Board of Standards has released its 2022 year in review report summarizing its work to uphold the profession’s ethical standards.
The CFP Board said it has invested significant resources over the past several years to strengthen its enforcement of its Code of Ethics and Standards of Conduct. The effort includes developing a library of resources to help CFP® professionals understand their ethical obligations, and soliciting third-party evaluations of the board’s program to ensure that outcomes are credible and fair. The board’s enforcement program is aimed at protecting the integrity of the CFP® certification marks and upholding the certification’s value for both practitioners and the public.
The year-end Ethics Report details the CFP Board’s work in these areas during 2022. A number of initiatives were highlighted:
-The board said it completed its historical investigations project that reviewed events related to 1,266 CFP® professionals, or about 1.4% of the total CFP® certificant population at the time the project began in 2019.
-Sanctions guidelines adopted in 2021 increased the recommended sanction for failing to timely report to CFP Board certain categories of information that may reveal other misconduct, and for providing inaccurate ethics declarations to CFP Board.
-Public comment was requested on proposed changes to the Procedural Rules intended to modernize CFP Board’s enforcement processes. The revised Procedural Rules were adopted in 2023 and will become effective on September 1.
-The Commission on Sanctions and Fitness substantially completed its review of the Sanction Guidelines and Fitness Standards for candidates for CFP® Certification and former professionals seeking reinstatement, developing recommendations that will be presented to the Board of Directors and issued for public comment in 2023.
-New guides and a series of case studies were published to provide practical guidance to CFP® professionals and their firms on complying with the Code and Standards.
The CFP Board also noted that it announced 135 public sanctions in 2022, including its first complaint alleging a violation of the expanded fiduciary duty introduced in the 2018 Code and Standards, which requires a CFP® professional to act as a fiduciary when providing financial advice to a client.
Lewitas Hyman PC represents advisors, brokers and other financial professional in all matters involving the CFP Board, including CFP Board investigations. Headquartered in Chicago, our securities attorneys represent clients nationwide. For more information relating to CFP Board investigations and discipline or other matters, contact Lewitas Hyman at (888) 655-6002 or through our online contact form for a free consultation.
