The Chartered Insurance Institute (CII) is to step up its requirements for firms like Hunter Aitkenhead Ltd. which hold its corporate chartered status.
Plans are afoot to overhaul the certificate which will mean that by 2020 all firms holding corporate chartered status must have at least half their advisers chartered on an individual basis.
The CII currently requires chartered firms to have at least one chartered financial planner on their board and for 90% of customer-facing staff to be members of the professional body.
Under the new requirements chartered firms will have to ensure that 25% of their advisers are chartered financial planners by July 2017 and 50% are chartered by 2020. Firms will also have to appoint a management team member to take on the role of the ‘responsible member’ to ensure the firm continually meets the criteria.
The new requirements will place an increased focus on culture and ethics and aim to ensure firms have a professional development programme in place and that their core values are aligned with the CII code of ethics.
There are currently 657 corporate chartered financial planning firms and 4,500 chartered financial planners.
Jim Aitkenhead commented, “We at Hunter Aitkenhead Ltd are committed to higher standards, although it will be a stretch. Fortunately my Co-Director, Alasdair Walker, is sitting his last exam to become Chartered in April”.
