Revised disciplinary rules for financial planners announced

The FP Canada Standards Council, a division of FP Canada announced various changes to the FP Canada Standards Council Disciplinary Rules and Procedures (DRP) and the FP Canada Standards Council Disciplinary Rules and Procedures for Examination Misconduct (DPEM).

The rules, which came into effect Feb. 1, “are part of an ongoing effort by the Standards Council to ensure all policies are fair and transparent for the benefit of CFP professionals, QAFP professionals, certification candidates and the Canadian public,” says the organization. 

The DRP guides how the Standards Council conducts investigations into conduct by CFP professionals and QAFP professionals that may represent a breach of their ethical and professional responsibilities. The DPEM guides how the Standards Council conducts investigations into allegations of candidate misconduct on FP Canada certification exams and the process for any disciplinary hearings arising from that misconduct. 

Many of the revisions to the DRP and DPEM are focused on improving transparency. One example is that under a change to the DRP, substantive motion decisions, which are decisions made on interim steps in a disciplinary proceeding, will now be published on the FP Canada website.

Another change is the inclusion, in the DRP, of an enhanced process relating to decisions about whether an ongoing investigation will be disclosed publicly and/or whether an individual's certification should be suspended pending the outcome of an ongoing investigation and any related discipline proceeding, in the public interest. “Hearing Panel decisions regarding such exceptional circumstances will now be published on FP Canada's website promoting fairness, transparency and supporting public interest protection,” says the organization. 

"The FP Canada Standards Council is committed to ensuring that policies and procedures that govern our complaint intake, investigation and enforcement processes are fair, transparent, effective, and that they consider the interests of the public, the financial planning profession, and individual certificants," says Damienne Lebrun-Reid, Executive Director, Standards & Certification, and Head of the FP Canada Standards Council. "Regular reviews and updates to these rules help to keep them relevant and current, for the benefit of all stakeholders."