The Board of the Certified Financial Planner Board of Standards adopted on May 24 a revised version of its code of ethics, adding new language that requires all 54,000 CFPs to "at all times place the interest of the client ahead of his or her own." The Board's new Standards of Professional Conduct, which takes effect July 1, 2008, replaces what the Board called "a lower standard of 'reasonable and professional judgment'" that was contained in its current Code. The Standards also require that CFPs who "provide financial planning services do so with the duty of care of a 'fiduciary'" which a Board statement says is "partly defined as acting 'in the best interest of the client."'
Karen Schaeffer, chair of the board, said that the Board believes "these updated standards reflect the level of ethical service the public deserves from financial planning professionals."
