CFP Board, FPA Collaborate to Strengthen Financial Planning Profession

WASHINGTON, Oct. 3, 2017 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The Financial Planning Association^® (FPA^®) and the Certified Financial Planner Board of Standards, Inc. (CFP Board) announced today that they have formalized a collaboration to support the CFP Board Center for Financial Planning and FPA's role as the largest membership association for Certified Financial Plannertm (CFP^®) professionals.

The collaboration was formally announced at the 2017 FPA Annual Conference in Nashville, Tenn.

"We look forward to further forging a relationship that will leverage the strengths of FPA and the CFP Board Center for Financial Planning to benefit the profession and the public," said 2017 FPA President Shannon J. Pike, CFP^®. "The cooperation between our organizations will allow us to fully embrace the important roles we each play and provide our association with an opportunity to further support the development of CFP^® professionals by introducing them to and engaging them in their professional membership community."

As part of the collaboration, FPA will support the Center's work by raising awareness of the Center among its members, encouraging them to contribute to the Center and become involved with its programs. For its part, CFP Board is committed to providing opportunities for CFP^® professionals to learn more about the value of becoming a member of FPA and encourage new and existing CFP^® professionals to become members. The two organizations will also work together to ensure that their efforts are neither competing with nor duplicative of each other.

"This collaboration represents the best that these two organizations have to offer as we maximize our collective efforts for the good of the profession," said Blaine Aikin, CFP^®, Chair of CFP Board's Board of Directors. "The CFP Board Center for Financial Planning, with the help of FPA's members, will certainly benefit current and future financial planners as it serves as a convener and catalyst for action to advance the financial planning profession."

"For the financial planning profession to thrive based on the CFP^® marks," said FPA CEO Lauren Schadle, CAE and CFP Board CEO Kevin R. Keller, CAE, "the profession needs both an exemplary certification body that is appropriately expanding and diversifying the pool of CFP^® professionals and an exceptional professional membership association nurturing the next generation of financial planners to their highest abilities."

ABOUT CFP BOARD

The mission of Certified Financial Planner Board of Standards, Inc. is to benefit the public by granting the CFP^® certification and upholding it as the recognized standard of excellence for competent and ethical personal financial planning. The Board of Directors, in furthering CFP Board's mission, acts on behalf of the public, CFP^® professionals and other stakeholders. CFP Board owns the certification marks CFP^®, Certified Financial Plannertm, CFP^® (with plaque design) and CFP^® (with flame design) in the U.S., which it awards to individuals who successfully complete CFP Board's initial and ongoing certification requirements.  CFP Board currently authorizes nearly 80,000 individuals to use these marks in the U.S.

ABOUT the CFP BOARD CENTER FOR FINANCIAL PLANNING

The CFP Board Center for Financial Planning seeks to create a more diverse and sustainable financial planning profession so that every American has access to competent and ethical financial planning advice.  The Center brings together CFP^® professionals, firms, educators, researchers and experts to address profession-wide challenges in the areas of diversity and workforce development, and to build an academic home that offers opportunities for conducting and publishing new research that adds to the financial planning body of knowledge. More about the Center and its initiatives can be found at www.CenterforFinancialPlanning.org.

About the Financial Planning Association

The Financial Planning Association^® (FPA^®) is the principal professional organization for CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNERtm (CFP^®) professionals, educators, financial services professionals and students who seek advancement in a growing, dynamic profession. Through a collaborative effort to provide more than 23,000 members with One Connectiontm to tools and resources for professional development, business success, advocacy and community, FPA is the indispensable force in the advancement of today's CFP^® professional. Learn more about FPA at OneFPA.org and follow on Twitter at twitter.com/fpassociation.

SOURCE Certified Financial Planner Board of Standards, Inc.