SIFMA White Paper: CFP Board’s Regulatory Regime for CFP Certificants Imposes Risks on Financial Services Firms

Paper makes key recommendations to CFP Board, the SEC and FINRA to mitigate these risks

Washington, D.C., October 28, 2024 – SIFMA today released a new white paper analyzing the risks to financial services firms associated with the Certified Financial Planner (CFB) Board’s continually expanding role as a de facto private regulator for CFP Certificants.

SIFMA is comprised of hundreds of member firms that employ tens of thousands of individuals who hold the CFP private certification. Over the past nearly two decades, CFP Board has continued to expand and grow its own regulatory regime for CFP Certificants.

SIFMA’s White Paper addresses this expanding regulatory regime. The purpose of the Paper is to:

• Document the growing concern of SIFMA’s member firms with CFP Board’s self-created and expanding role as a de facto, private regulator of CFP Certificants,
• Identify the many ways that CFP Board’s regulatory activities duplicate and conflict with existing SEC and FINRA rules, and create major regulatory, supervisory and reputational risks for the firms that employ CFP Certificants, and
• Recommend specific steps that CFP Board could take to ameliorate these risks, and encourage the SEC and FINRA to do the same.

Some of SIFMA’s key recommendations to CFP Board include:

• Eliminate rules and standards that duplicate or conflict with SEC and FINRA rules and standards,
• Implement safeguards around CFP Board document and information requests to CFP Certificants,
• Provide additional notices to the CFP Certificant’s firm regarding CFP Board investigative and enforcement milestones, and other currently unreported events, and
• Give timely notice and copies to the CFP Certificant’s firm of any Firm Materials or Regulatory Materials produced by a CFP Certificant to CFP Board.

SIFMA’s President and CEO, Kenneth E. Bentsen, Jr. stated, “SIFMA and its members are committed to addressing and ameliorating the significant risks imposed by CFP Board’s regulatory regime. We look forward to working collaboratively with CFP Board, and the SEC and FINRA, to develop long-term workable solutions that benefit all affected parties.”

SIFMA’s White Paper can be found here: https://www.sifma.org/resources/general/cfp-boards-regulatory-regime-for-cfp-certificants/

-30-

SIFMA is the leading trade association for broker-dealers, investment banks and asset managers operating in the U.S. and global capital markets. On behalf of our industry’s one million employees, we advocate on legislation, regulation and business policy affecting retail and institutional investors, equity and fixed income markets and related products and services. We serve as an industry coordinating body to promote fair and orderly markets, informed regulatory compliance, and efficient market operations and resiliency. We also provide a forum for industry policy and professional development.

SIFMA, with offices in New York and Washington, D.C., is the U.S. regional member of the Global Financial Markets Association (GFMA).