Under new rules that took effect in July, the Certified Financial Planner Board of Standards, Inc. (CFP Board) last week announced the names of 13 CFPs who have declared bankruptcy within the last five years.
The CFP Board, which administers the CFP designation in the United States, notes that it does not investigate, and the disciplinary and ethics commission does not adjudicate, bankruptcy-only cases. Rather, it verifies the bankruptcy, and publicly discloses it.
These bankruptcies are to be disclosed each quarter, and the information will remain on the CFP Board’s website for 10 years. The latest disclosure covers the third quarter of 2012, although only one of the reported bankruptcies was actually filed in 2012, most of them date back to 2009.
The CFP Board notes that the release of the bankruptcy information is intended to provide “consumers with adequate information to make an informed decision with regard to engaging a CFP professional to assist with financial decisions.”