International Academic Panel Tackles How to Create, Deliver Global Financial Planning Curriculum

DENVER, 28 September 2007 – Financial Planning Standards Board Ltd. (FPSB) announced that it recently convened an international panel in Seattle, Washington, made up of 16 educational and training specialists from 11 territories to examine how to construct and deliver a global curriculum for financial planning to support the emergence of financial planning as a global profession.

Co-chairpersons Somanth Basu, CFP^®, Professor of Finance at California Lutheran University and the Director of its California Institute of Finance and Wessel Oosthuizen, CFP^®, Senior Lecturer and Director of the Centre for Financial Planning Law at the University of the Free State, South Africa, led the group in two days of discussions on 6-7 September 2007 around how best to educate people about delivering the financial planning process, how to provide for appropriate levels of program quality, how to integrate and balance global with territory-specific content, and how to ensure that a global financial planning curriculum captures the breadth and depth of knowledge, skills and abilities required of a professional financial planning practitioner, as defined by FPSB’s Financial Planner Competency Profile. Discussions covered panel members’ papers on the feasibility and possible delivery methods for a global financial planning curriculum.

“Now that FPSB has defined, at a global level, the knowledge, skills and abilities that a financial planner needs, it is appropriate for the international academic community to examine how to ensure that the next generation of financial planers is adequately educated and trained,” said Oosthuizen. “The international academic panel is aware of, and excited by, the significant scope of this groundbreaking project, and has committed to working with FPSB in 2008 and beyond to establish content and standards for a global financial planning curriculum.”

“FPSB is pleased to be spearheading this pioneering work in identifying the components of a financial planning curriculum that are global and territory specific, and determining how best to develop and deliver financial planning education to support an increasingly global profession,” said Denny Smith, FPSB Director of Certification. “With over 105,000 CFP professionals in 22 territories, many of whom are practicing across borders or have clients from other regions, FPSB would like clients, practitioners, employers and others to be able to rely on CFP professionals’ completion of a common body of financial planning knowledge, as well as appropriate territory-specific knowledge as required.”

Members of FPSB’s Education Advisory Panel were: Carl Anschutz, General Manager of Learning at the Financial Planning Institute of Southern Africa; Ken Bruce, State Director, Victoria (Australia) of Central Queensland University (CQU); KP Bose Dasan, Board Member, Financial Planning Association Malaysia; Patrick Dufour, Vice President CGPC France; Muhamad Ichsan, Program Director, FPSB Indonesia; Dr. So-hyun Joo, Financial Planning Consultant, South Korea; Dr. Brian Korb, Associate Professor of Finance, Trinity Western University School of Business, Canada; Dr. Feng Liu, Deputy Secretary General and Professor of Finance, FPSCC, China; Kyra Morris, President Morris Financial Concepts, US, and founder of the US-based CFP Certification Residency Program; Debra Sawyer CPA, CFP^®, Keir Educational Resources, US; Dr. Deanna Sharpe CFP^®, Associate Professor, University of Missouri Columbia, US; Dr. Tom Warschauer, Professor of Finance, San Diego State University, US; Trevor Williamson, Postgraduate Admissions Coordinator, Manchester Metropolitan University, United Kingdom; and Dr. Martin Young Associate Professor of Finance, Massey University; New Zealand.

FPSB is governed by a nine-member board of directors and supported by the FPSB Council, a group representing 22 organizations that currently manage, or are preparing to manage, the CFP certification in their respective territories. Territories where FPSB has a nonprofit member organization include: Australia, Austria, Brazil, Canada, Chinese Taipei, France, Germany, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, New Zealand, the Netherlands, the People’s Republic of China, the Republic of Korea, Singapore, South Africa, Switzerland, Thailand, the United Kingdom and the United States.

Financial Planning Standards Board Ltd. manages, develops and operates certification, education and related programs for financial planning organizations outside the U.S. so that they may benefit and protect the global community by establishing, upholding and promoting worldwide professional standards in financial planning. FPSB’s commitment is represented by the marks of global excellence in financial planning – CFP^®, CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER^TM and CFP Logo Mark. There are currently over 105,000 CFP professionals worldwide, and this figure continues to grow each year.