IFP segregates membership to offer tailored service

The Institute of Financial Planning (IFP) is to segregate its membership by qualifications and status as a precursor to offering them tailored content at seminars and events.

Speaking at a stakeholder meeting last week, IFP chief executive Nick Cann was keen to distinguish between the different levels within the body and their position within the financial services industry.

Cann said: ‘Since the CFP [certified financial planner] qualification was introduced we have held CFP days and seminars that focused on that specific group, and they have worked very well. At the meetings we are able to target subject matter specifically relevant to them or raise the technical level of the seminar.

‘We are planning to apply this to every group, including students, para-planners and fellows. Members will get more out of the institute and it will be better value.’

Membership fees will be unchanged. Cann insists that everyone will still be an IFP member, dismissing the idea that segregated membership would garner elitism.

He said: ‘It is definitely not an elitist move. Everyone will still be welcome at the regional and annual meetings but there will be meetings three or four times a year that will target the level of knowledge and qualification of the group.’

The move echoes that of the Personal Finance Society (PFS), which aims to establish a club for its 870 chartered financial planners. It too wishes to advise members on a level relevant to their qualification and knowledge.

Campbell Edgar, a financial planner at Bloomsbury Financial Planning in London, said: ‘Targeting groups within the IFP will make it a lot more inclusive. After all, you must work from the bottom up.’