Financial advisers are the single most important channel for distributing financial products in the UK. However, one of the major issues reported by consumers when seeking financial advice is uncertainty over whether they can trust their financial advisers.
BS ISO 22222:2005 has been drawn up with the objective of achieving and promoting consumer confidence by providing an internationally agreed benchmark for a high global standard of personal finance service.
The standard applies to individuals rather than firms, although an individual planner working for a financial planning firm would not be able to achieve the standard without the support of their firm.
BS ISO 22222 specifies requirements and provides a framework that applies to the ethical behaviour, competences and experience of a professional personal financial planner regardless of their employment status.
The standard defines six steps of the personal financial planning process:
- Establishing and defining the client and personal financial planner relationship.
- Gathering client data and determining goals and expectations.
- Analysing and evaluating the client's financial status.
- Developing and presenting the financial plan.
- Implementing the financial planning recommendations.
- Monitoring the financial plan and the financial planning relationship.
BS ISO 22222 recommends that a planner/ adviser:
- is able to deliver, and is competent in, the 6 stages of the financial planning process defined
- has appropriate academic knowledge, (defined in the standard at level 8 of the SQA which is equivalent QCA Level 4)
- has relevant practical experience
- has relevant and current Continuing Professional Development
- follows a published ethical code.
In addition BS ISO 22222 describes and addresses the various methods of conformity assessment and specifies requirements applying to each of them. Individuals claiming conformity with the standard can self-declare against the requirements of BS ISO 22222 or alternatively, independent third-party certification can be sought. BSI recommends that those seeking independent third-party certification do so using assessment bodies accredited to ISO 17024 by the United Kingdom Accreditation Service (UKAS).
Currently two assessment bodies are known to be working towards ISO 17024 Conformity Assessment and accreditation from UKAS: Standards International and the Chartered Insurance Institute.
