FPI: Building relationships through corporate partnerships

A Global Comparator Research: Why firms value the CFP® certification study, conducted by Financial Planning Standards Board (FPSB), shows the positive impact CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER ®/CFP® professionals have in financial services firms.

Key findings found that 69% of firms said that CFP^® professionals generate higher revenue and have a higher rate of growth of assets under management. 61% agree that business profit increased as a result of employing CFP^® professionals. In addition, 59% of firms report CFP^® professionals have fewer client complaints against them compared to those who are not certified. 

In an effort to be strategic and expand its horizon, the Financial Planning Institute of Southern Africa (FPI) recently announced its newly formed corporate partnerships with, and announced GCI Wealth, attooh! and Alexander Forbes as FPI Corporate Partner™ companies. 

The FPI Corporate Partner™ agreement has been established to raise the competency levels of financial planners and financial advisors through various development initiatives. The development process provides financial planners with a learning pathway towards the CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER^®/ CFP^® designation, awarded to financial planners who have met the rigorous certification standards of education, examination, experience and ethics requirements. 

Wouter Snyman, CEO of attooh! said: “We see our affiliation with FPI as the next major step in the history of our company. We believe that by closely aligning ourselves with the professional body for CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER^® professionals, we can contribute to changing financial planning into a fully-fledged profession. We look forward to this journey with FPI and the positive impact it is sure to have!”

Successful partnerships and alliances rely on the principle that the work involved in maintaining a partnership, and the benefits from the alliance are equally spread, rather than one partner carrying the load whilst the other reaps the benefits. 

“We commend Alexander Forbes, attooh! and GCI Wealth, on their commitment to partner with us and ensuring that its professionals who provide financial advice are qualified and have the necessary skills. This is a proud achievement for the three organisations and FPI following a stringent approval process,” said Sherma Malan, CFP^®, Head: Membership and Corporate Relations at FPI. 

“We look forward to many more corporate partnerships in the near future. We are committed to up skilling financial advisors into ultimately becoming CFP^® professionals, in a bid to improve on access to top quality financial planning and advice offered to South Africans,” added Malan. 

The new FPI Corporate Partner™ companies join the likes of Standard Bank Financial Consultants, Old Mutual Corporate, SANLAM Wealthsmiths, FNB Financial Advisory, Momentum and Liberty Holdings Limited.