US planners see merit in their own FPA

America's two top financial planning associations have announced plans to merge.

The 17 International Association for Financial Planning (IAFP) has been in discussion with the Institute of Certified Financial Planners (ICFP) for the past 18 months with a view to forming a single association, to be called the Financial

Planning Association (FPA). The IAFP currently has 17,000 members in 23 countries and ICFP has 13,000 in the US alone.

According to chair-elect of the International CFP Board of Governors and IAFP member, Patti Houlihan, the boards of both associations have agreed to the motion but it is still subject to a vote by ICFP members.

However, Houlihan says the move has been received positively by the financial planning industry in the US.

"In the past there has been overlapping of programs and different messages being communicated. This will open membership to a large number of advisers and provide a unified voice to Congress and regulatory authorities," she says.

"Australia has got a lot of things right in the way it has a unified association to represent financial planners."

According to a press release issued by the IAFP, the new structure will "embrace the Certified Financial Planner designation as the mark that would become synonomous with financial planner".

If approved, the association would have four separate membership categories, including a financial planing division which will eventually only be open to CFP accredited planners. New members would be allowed three years to be CFP accredited or be moved to the allied professional division, where they would not be allowed to participate in the association's referral program.

ICFP members are expected to vote on the proposal by August to form the merged association on January 1, 2000. In order to pass, at least two thirds of members must approve the motion and at least 10 per cent of members must vote.