CIFPs announces details of founding conference

(April 11, 2003) The Canadian Institute of Financial Planners, the new kid on the advisor association block, has announced details of its first conference, to be held in Ontario’s Muskoka region on June 2 and 3.

Industry speakers at the two-day event include Financial Planning Standards Board chair John Carpenter and Investment Funds Institute of Canada president Tom Hockin.

The conference schedule features two educational streams: one focused on the financial planning profession and the other being a more detailed technical program, eligible for Financial Planners Standards Council continuing education credits, says CIFPs managing director Keith Costello.

Ottawa-based lawyer Harold Geller will host a session on avoiding errors and omissions claims, while the Ontario Securities Commission’s Julia Dublin will provide a regulatory update for planners.

“She’ll be highlighting the relationship between regulatory reforms and the CFP,” Costello says. “We also want her to talk about the proposed financial planning rule and how that will work with the CFP designation over the long run.”

The CFP-exclusive association will create a constitution and elect directors at the conference. The association will also finalize a name, although Costello revealed they’ll likely stick with CIFPs. “We’ll probably go with CIFPs, but that will be voted on by the members,” he says.

The CIFPs was first announced last August and the inaugural conference was scheduled for December. The conference was delayed until June as the organization worked to recruit new members. Costello says he will announce at the conference just how many CFPs the association has attracted, but says between 1,000 and 2,000 would be a “reasonable” estimate.

Costello adds he expects membership to increase over the next few months as the CIFPs finalizes its errors and omissions insurance program. “A lot of CFPs wanted to come over, but couldn’t because they had to be a member of another association to be eligible for their E&O plan,” he says. “So we will see an uplift in membership from that perspective.”

The conference, to be held at Deerhurst Resort in Huntsville, Ontario, kicks off Sunday, June 1 with an evening reception hosted by comedian Rick Mercer. Details and registration forms are available on the CIFPs Web site.

Debate about the merits of joining CIFPs versus Advocis in the “Free for All” forum of the Talvest Town Hall on Advisor.ca has been rampant. Join in the conversation or start your own about this new advisor association today.

Filed by Doug Watt, Advisor.ca, dwatt@advisor.ca