The investigation by Which? into 43 advice firms listed on website unbiased.co.uk found that 27 (63%) of the companies that claimed to employ certified financial planners did not have a single adviser with the relevant Cisi certification.
‘We will take action’
Cisi is a professional body that sets examinations and offers qualifications for financial planners, wealth managers and capital markets professionals.
Kevin Moore, Cisi’s global head of business development, has responded to this research, saying the institute will immediately investigate any claims of advisers falsely claiming to hold any of their designations.
“If subsequently we discover the adviser is fraudulently misrepresenting themselves we will take disciplinary or legal action against that individual and this could result in that individual losing their membership of the Cisi,” Moore said.
Upholding standards
Moore said Cisi members and certified financial planner (CFP) professionals are personally responsible for updating all details relevant to the Cisi membership on commercial listings websites.
“All Cisi members have to comply with the Cisi Code of Conduct which requires members to uphold the highest personal and professional standards at all times,” he said.
Moore said UK consumers can check if their financial planner is a CFP professional by looking at the Wayfinder list on the institute’s website.
Based in the City of London, Cisi is a global organisation and has 45,000 members in 104 countries. More than 40,000 Cisi examinations were sat in 80 countries in the last 12 months.
