CFP Board Requests Comments on Proposed Revisions to Procedural Rules

Certified Financial Planner Board of Standards, Inc. (CFP Board) announced today that it is seeking public comment on proposed changes to CFP Board’s Procedural Rules. The proposed changes are intended to modernize CFP Board’s enforcement processes and further CFP Board’s work to uphold its Code of Ethics and Standards of Conduct (Code and Standards) for the benefit of the public. The deadline to submit comments is January 23, 2023.

The Procedural Rules outline processes for investigating alleged misconduct and enforcing CFP Board’s Code and Standards in a manner designed to be fair to those whose conduct is being evaluated as well as credible to the public.

The proposed changes reflect a set of recommendations developed by CFP Board’s staff following the bifurcation of the Detection and Investigation functions from the Adjudication and Appeals functions. Staff and the Board of Directors’ Code and Standards Enforcement Committee will review the comments on the proposed changes and make a recommendation to the full Board of Directors. The Board of Directors will decide whether to adopt the changes at an upcoming meeting. If the Board adopts the proposed changes, then those changes will be announced with an effective date that allows adequate time for CFP Board to educate CFP® professionals about the changes before the revised Procedural Rules take effect.

“We encourage and welcome candid feedback from CFP® professionals and other stakeholders on these proposed changes to CFP Board’s Procedural Rules,” said CFP Board CEO Kevin R. Keller, CAE. “CFP Board is continually evaluating our investigation and enforcement operations to ensure that our process benefits the public and is fair to the certificant.”

Proposed Revisions to Procedural Rules

The proposed revisions to the Procedural Rules address a number of topics that CFP® professionals and others have raised about the current Procedural Rules, including the following:

• Expanding the Role of Counsel for the Disciplinary and Ethics Commission (DEC Counsel) to Make the Adjudication Process More Efficient
• Transferring Some Administrative Functions from Enforcement to Adjudication
• Incorporating an Existing DEC Standing Order and Other Existing Practices
• Promoting the Benefits of the Adversarial Process by Eliminating Settlement Counteroffers
• Requiring Respondents Who Are the Subject of an Interim Suspension Order to File a Petition for Reinstatement Within Two Years or Receive an Administrative Order of Revocation
• Enabling Pre-Investigation Outreach
• Establishing a Process for Admitting Expert Witness Testimony
• Modifying the Limitations Period to Address Situations Where Enforcement Counsel Does Not Know if the Limitations Period Has Passed When Opening an Investigation

A redlined version of the proposed revisions to the Procedural Rules can be found here. CFP Board encourages the general public, CFP® professionals and other stakeholders to review all of the proposed revisions.

Submit a Comment

Comments can be submitted to CFP Board through an online form on CFP.net. All comments submitted to CFP Board will be posted on the CFP.net website with the name of the commenter and date submitted. The deadline for comments is January 23, 2023.