The Financial Planning Association (FPA) has refreshed its Professional Code after an “extensive” consultation with members.

FPA says the changes will support its members in continuing to uphold the highest standards in their dealings with clients, other professionals, and regulators.

The critical change to the Code has been structural, moving from a “lengthy and complex” rules-based system for regulating member conduct to a one-page, principles-based Professional Code, emphasising the importance and primacy of professional judgment, the peak body says.

More than 20,000 words from its previous rules-based system have been cut as part of the update.

The FPA says the move to a principles-based Code mirrors the approach to industry regulation that is being canvassed as part of the Quality of Advice Review.

“We take our professional standards extremely seriously, and the FPA has an internal specialist team as well as an independent Conduct Review Commission involved to oversee our response to complaints against members, FPA CEO Sarah Abood said.

“We act quickly when issues are raised, to ensure due process and uphold the standards that our members expect their colleagues in the profession to achieve.”