The next two years will be critical for defining and building the financial planning profession in Canada, says Keith Costello, the managing director of the Canadian Institute of Financial Planners,.

Speaking this morning to members of the CIFPs at the association’s third annual general meeting at Niagara Falls, Ont., Costello called on advisors to act as ambassadors for the industry.

“To build [this profession], we must ensure advice is explicit, regardless of a fee-based or commission-based model of compensation. We must educate the public regarding the need for planning, and aid in the subsequent attitude adjustment to pay for it,” he says.

With licensing of the financial planning industry gearing up in countries such as Argentina and Britain, issues such as standardization and regulation are gaining attention. In direct competition with the CFP designation is the International Organization for Standardization (ISO), which is in the process of defining and adopting worldwide standards to regulate financial planning.

Here in Canada, the potential licensing of financial planning through the Canadian Securities Administrators’ fair dealing model project and the call for a new SRO to regulate advisors both pose a threat to the industry, Costello notes.

Though these issues will be a challenge, they also present an opportunity for CFP-designated advisors, he says.

“If financial planning is to be licensed, then let us define the CFP to the public as the high standard that exceeds the minimum government license,” he says. “There are enough regulatory layers already.”

Costello also reflected on the CIFPs’ accomplishments in the past year, including its new practitioner’s guide, its annual financial planning publication, entitled Current Trends and Issues in Financial Planning, and the new chartered alternative investment program (CHAIP), which designates members selling alternative investment products.

CIFPs’ membership goals are on track this year. The association has 2,100 members from across the country and expects to reach 5,000 by 2008. Costello estimates that between 10% and 15% of CIFPs members have come from competing industry association Advocis, and some members are dual members. However, most CIFPs members have never been affiliated with a professional association before, he says.

The meeting concluded with the re-election of chairman John Charrette and first vice chairwoman Marion Weisgerber for a third one-year term. K.C. Tsirigotis was named second vice chair.

The conference concludes on Wednesday afternoon.