IAFP to adopt fiduciary standard for RFP designation holders

The Institute of Advanced Financial Planners (IAFP) has a new plan in the works: implementing a fiduciary standard.

The institute, which oversees the registered financial planner (RFP) designation, said in a letter to members last week that it intends for members to “adopt a fiduciary standard when providing financial planning services to their clients.” The new measure would be in place for 2026.

A fiduciary standard would be “one more reason” for prospective clients to seek professionals with the RFP designation, the letter said, and would be expected to “attract the brightest and most ethical financial planners” to the institute.

“Most importantly, this simply is the right thing to do,” the letter said.

It was signed by Aaron Hector, vice-president and symposium chair with the IAFP, who is also leading the initiative.

“Most consumers — regular Canadians — would make the assumption that if they’re talking to a financial planner [who is] making recommendations to them, [the planner] would be doing that in the realm of a fiduciary responsibility,” Hector said in an interview.

When RFP holders renew their designations in 2026, they’d be required to attest to the fiduciary standard.

Feedback so far has been positive, Hector said, adding that the IAFP’s code of ethics already has some of the requirements of a fiduciary framework, including acting in clients’ best interests.

(The code also lists factors that can give rise to a member having a fiduciary relationship to a client under the law, such as when a client is vulnerable and trusts the member.)

Hector is a founding member of the Financial Planning Association of Canada, which was created in 2019 to help professionalize financial planning and also has a fiduciary pledge. Stateside, the CFP Board has a fiduciary duty as part of its conduct standards. And FP Canada has a duty of loyalty in its code of ethics to place clients’ interests first.

“It’s very clear there is an appetite for planners who are willing to raise their hand and say, ‘Yes, I’m going to act as a fiduciary,’’’ Hector said.

The IAFP would be the first certification body in Canada to implement a fiduciary standard, the IAFP noted in its letter to members, “and we do not take this lightly.”

Over the next year, the institute will provide members with educational resources to address their questions about the measure and a focus group will be established to kick off discussion, the letter said.

“We’ve got a year to figure out all the nitty-gritty details,” Hector said, which would include details about oversight of designation holders.

For now, the aim is clear: “We’re trying to elevate our professionalism, elevate financial planning and let consumers know that if you’re working with an RFP, you’re working with someone who is holding themselves out as a fiduciary,” Hector said.