Qualifications
Calls have been made at the threesixty annual accounts briefing that all qualifications should be recognised by the Qualifications and Curriculum Authority (QCA).
Bob Bullivant, deputy director general of the Chartered Insurance Institute, said the industry should come together to ensure there is a general consensus that all qualifications are consistent, comparable and recognisable.
He urged people to join the QCA and to agree terms and levels because, at the moment, a diploma in financial planning is the equivalent to the first year of a university course.
Elsewhere at the conference, Martyn Weaver, partner at threesixty, said the industry was going through a period of unprecedented change with the Financial Services Authority moving towards a more principles-based regulation and the implementation of the Treating Customers Fairly principle.
However, while many larger firms with experienced compliance personnel may revel in this new found freedom, smaller IFA practices, and, in particular, busy practising principals, may prefer the greater certainty of more prescriptive rules in a rapidly changing environment.
