The global standards body has praised the Financial Planning Association’s role in securing changes to the Future of Financial Advice (FOFA) reforms.

Colorado-based Financial Planning Standards Board (FPSB) CEO Noel Maye has congratulated the FPA for its role in “taking the initiative to protect consumers seeking the advice of financial planners”.

“These reforms, and the partnerships between government and professional financial planning bodies they encourage, could provide a model for other jurisdictions seeking to establish and oversee the profession of financial planning,” he says.

“The FOFA reforms are consistent with the FPSB’s approach to effective financial planning oversight, which had been developed with the body’s 24 member organisations.”

These include protecting the term “financial planners” by law, creating a fiduciary standard of care in regulations and a professional body to provide the oversight of advisers.

“Through FPA’s active leadership in engaging with government and regulatory authorities, all these elements have been included in the proposed Australian legislation,” Mr Maye says.

“The FPA and the Australian Government are to be commended for taking a leadership position globally in creating a new model for financial planner oversight, one that focuses on supporting and enforcing meaningful professional obligations, professional body oversight and consumer protection.”