FPSB Affiliation Requirements

To become an Affiliate member of FPSB, capable of administering the CFP certification program in a territory, your organization must have/be:

1. Registered as a nonprofit entity or its equivalent.

2. The premier financial planning organization in your territory, and/or have a broad base of support from financial services firms, practitioners and regulators.

3. Organizationally sound, with adequate finances and resources to administer the CFP certification program.

4. In place:

   • An appropriate legal structure, constitution, mission statement and goals and objectives to administer the CFP certification program in the public’s interest.

   • Processes and procedures to administer initial and ongoing CFP certification standards in your territory, adapted from FPSB’s global certification standards. (FPSB expects appropriate adaptations of the global CFP certification standards for bona fide local conditions, but all such adaptations must be pre-approved by FPSB.)

   • A completed job/task or competency analysis that identifies the abilities, skills and knowledge needed to practice financial planning in your territory, from which your organization has developed:

     1. guidelines for the delivery of the CFP certification education program by education providers;

     2. psychometrically defensible content and administration procedures for the CFP Certification Examination in your territory; and

     3. work experience requirements for CFP professionals.

   • A set of Professional Financial Planning Practice Standards, adapted from FPSB's global standards.

   • A Code of Ethics and set of Disciplinary Procedures, adapted from FPSB's global standards.

   • A Board of Professional Review (or its equivalent) to oversee enforcement of the Code of Ethics and Practice Standards.

   • CFP certification renewal requirements.

   • A viable marketing plan, strategic plan and resources to create awareness/knowledge of financial planning and the CFP Marks.

5. Completed an FPSB evaluation that demonstrates your organization’s readiness to administer FPSB’s CFP certification program.

To retain Affiliate member status, your organization must adopt, maintain and enforce FPSB’s CFP certification standards, as amended from time to time, by:

1. Periodically conducting a job/task or competency analysis of financial planners in your territory, based on FPSB's research template, and providing FPSB with documentation of the results.

2. Revising education program guidelines based on the job analysis.

3. Monitoring the quality of programs delivered by education providers.

4. Administering valid and reliable CFP Certification Examinations that test individuals’ competence to practice financial planning unsupervised.

5. Implementing a disciplinary system through a Professional Review Board (or its equivalent) based on a Code of Ethics and disciplinary procedures that conform to FPSB’s standards.

6. Requiring self-disclosure of ethics violations and other declarations by CFP professionals prior to/after getting CFP certification.

7. Ensuring that only individuals who meet, and continue to meet, FPSB’s certification requirements use the CFP Marks in your territory.

8. Adhering to FPSB’s Marks use requirements and promoting/protecting the CFP Marks in your territory.

9. Complying with other requirements FPSB deems appropriate for administering CFP certification to benefit the public.