IFP goes head-to-head with CII with level 4 offering

The Institute of Financial Planning (IFP) has outlined a blueprint for challenging the CII’s market dominance, with plans to offer a level four qualification and produce a financial planning register for ‘Formula One’ firms.

The professional body is set to hold talks with exam providers BPP and Kaplan, among others, and hopes to roll out RDR-ready papers at the beginning of 2011.

Chief executive Nick Cann says this will complete the IFP’s offering, which also includes the certified financial planner (CFP) designation and a level four paraplanner qualification, and will put it in conflict with the CII.

Earlier this year, the CII unveiled details of its level four Diploma in Regulated Financial Planning, aimed at new and existing advisers. It is one of eight CII exams listed as ‘RDR-appropriate’ by the FSA.

“We hope our offering becomes a relevant alternative [to the CII] for those who maybe do not know what the IFP is,” Cann says. “Inevitably, we will run into conflict with them. Hopefully, we will be seen as better than the CII.”

By offering a level four option for advisers, Cann hopes to double the IFP’s current 2,200-strong membership and see the number of CFPs climb to about 2,500 within three years.

“We want to ensure we have a total solution for firms. We were interested in doing a level four qualification ourselves, but the costs would have been great and the FSSC standards mean all the exams are pretty much the same. We expect to start 2011 with the complete offering.”

The professional body is also close to completing plans for a register of CFPs, with inclusion likely to result in reduced professional indemnity insurance (PII) premiums.

Firms will have to meet a number of criteria to join the register, including attaining specified qualifications, operating a fee-based structure and demonstrating profitability.

Cann says he wants consumers to know all businesses on the register have met stringent entry requirements and represent the ‘cream of the crop’ in the financial planning industry.

“We want members of the public to know exactly what kind of service they will get from these firms,” he says.

Establishing the register is part of a three-pronged process which will also see the IFP use the list to produce best practice guidelines for other firms. “We want it to be seen as some kind of Formula One factory,” Cann says.

Finally, the institute hopes to use the information gleaned from those on the register to inform providers and other stakeholders.

Cann says the IFP is still working on the practicalities of assessing firms who apply for inclusion, but he expects to see the first names on the register in the New Year.