Hiring of CFP professionals to grow globally this year: Survey

Hiring of certified financial planners (CFP) is expected to grow globally this year, including India, as many firms are planning to increase the number of CFPs with them in the next 12 months, says a recent survey.
"About 79 per cent of the surveyed firms plan to increase the number of CFP professionals in the next 12 months through both hiring more CFP professionals (35 per cent) and supporting attainment of CFP certification among existing advisers or planners (44 per cent)," according to a research conducted by Comparator, an Australian benchmarking organisation.
The research was conducted between September and December 2013 in 12 territories, including Australia, Austria, Brazil, Canada, China, Germany, India and the United States.

"The value of hiring CFP professionals is clear as financial services firms seek to act in their clients' best interest and keep track with their financial and life goals," Financial Planning Standards Board (FPSB) CEO Noel Maye said.
The survey found that 84 per cent of firms believe that employing CFP professionals has a positive impact on clients' satisfaction with the firm and 81 per cent say they help differentiate their business.
About 76 per cent of firms indicated employing CFPs led to increased client retention, it said.
"With the progression of the financial planning movement and an enabling regulatory environment, many more financial services organisations are increasingly preferring CFP certificate-holders in recruitments.

"We believe that owing to their need based and holistic consumer centric approach, the CFP professionals are well equipped to aid the creation of financial well being in the society," said Ranjeet S Mudholkar, Vice Chairman and CEO, Financial Planning Standards Board India (FPSB India), the authority that deals with setting professional standards for CFPs in India.