CFP Board Releases Revised Version of Proposed Code of Ethics and Standards of Conduct

Comment Period Ends February 2, 2018

Certified Financial Planner Board of Standards, Inc. today released for public comment a revised proposed Code of Ethics and Standards of Conduct, which sets forth the ethical standards for CFP® professionals.

CFP Board issued its initial proposal on June 20, 2017, for a 60-day comment period. CFP Board received more than 1,300 comments.  After reviewing the comments, which generated material changes to the initial proposal, CFP Board’s Board of Directors decided to issue a revised proposal for additional comment. 

The revised proposal maintains from the initial proposal the expanded scope of the fiduciary standard that requires CFP® professionals to act in the best interest of the client at all times when providing financial advice. CFP Board made changes to some of the disclosure and other requirements in recognition of the need to be practical in considering changes to its Standards and to ensure the revised proposal focuses primarily on standards governing the provision of Financial Advice to actual Clients.

The public can read the revised proposal and a redlined version of the revised proposal as well as a side-by-side document showing the revised proposal alongside the current Standards. In addition, the public can review an annotated document that provides context and commentary on the initial proposal, addressing some of the comments received on the initial proposal and the changes CFP Board made in response to the comments.  All of these documents are available on CFP Board’s website at www.CFP.net/proposed-standards.

Comments may be submitted by email to comments@cfpboard.org or through an online form that will be accessible at www.CFP.net/proposed-standards beginning January 2, 2018.  All comments submitted to CFP Board will be posted on our website with the name of the commenter and date submitted. The public comment period ends on Friday, February 2, 2018.

CFP Board’s Board of Directors will consider the feedback received during this comment period with the expectation that it will approve and release a final version of the Code and Standards by the end of the second quarter of 2018.  Pending the outcome of the second comment period, CFP Board intends for the final Code and Standards to have an effective date of January 1, 2019.