(June 15 – 12:55) – Jim Rogers, chairman of the Canadian Association of Insurance and Financial Advisors, says its merger with the Canadian Association of Financial Planners didn’t fall apart because it demanded the CAFP drop the RFP designation.

Rogers says he wants to set the record straight over the failed merger talks. He maintains that CAIFA never asked the CAFP to abandon the RFP, merely that they stop promoting it as superior to the CFP. “There’s been some confusion surrounding the reasons for the discontinuation of talks. And I think it’s important that CAIFA and CAFP members alike fully understand the issues.”

The CAFP’s board has said that talks were called off because CAIFA wanted the CAFP to abandon the RFP designation in favour of the CFP. Rogers says its position has been miscast. “What we asked the CAFP to do was stop actively promoting the RFP designation as being the equivalent of, or a significant step above, the CFP designation.” He maintains that this is the same request the Financial Planners Standards Council has made of the CAFP.

“CAIFA believes that CAIFA and CAFP members, as well as consumers, are best served by having a single designation — the CFP — as evidence of financial planning competence,” says Rogers. “We’re still interested in continuing merger discussions with CAFP as long as they fully support both the FPSC and the CFP designation.”
-IE Staff