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Fintellect Initiative: Phase One Report
The Institute of Financial Planning (the Institute) and FP Canada have released a new report detailing progress toward the goals of the organizations’ joint Fintellect initiative.
Fintellect is dedicated to exploring the impact of technology on professional financial planning. The initiative brings together a task force of stakeholders in roles across the financial planning profession, including planners, regulators, educators, industry representatives, and consumer advocates.
During phase one, the task force, along with select stakeholders, explored the ramifications of continued development of technology on the delivery of financial planning advice. The objective was to reach consensus on the major areas of opportunity and concern that are most likely to impact the financial well-being of Canadians.
“Fintellect is about leveraging technology in ways that will make the financial planning profession more relevant, inclusive, and accessible to all Canadians,” says Christopher Dewdney, CFP® and Chair of the Fintellect Task Force. “The discussions we’ve had so far have left me feeling incredibly confident that we’re on the right path.”
Phase One Findings
As part of phase one, the Institute and FP Canada employed a series of interactive workshops with the Fintellect Task Force.
Dozens of additional stakeholders were also consulted for each workshop, including independent financial planners and academics in finance research, along with representatives from financial institutions, technology companies, consumer protection groups, regulators, and associations.
The workshops generated three key outcomes to work toward:
- Outcome one: Technology can and must improve access to financial planning. Leveraging it can reduce the barriers and cost of financial planning for Canadians and help planners provide services across demographics, including among those that are under-served.
- Outcome two: FP Canada and the Institute have a role to play in influencing the impact of new and emerging technologies and the resulting implications for consumer protection, including access to Canadian’s personal data.
- Outcome three: Financial planners must continually adapt and learn. That means embracing new and evolving technologies and finding ways to use technology to reduce, automate, or eliminate routine tasks so planners can focus on the human dimension of financial planning.
Taking the Next Steps
Based on phase one discussions, there are some concrete steps that the Institute and FP Canada can take to work towards key outcomes. These include but aren’t limited to supporting the development of reliable advice channels, delivering the training planners need to leverage technology, and championing the development of appropriate regulatory frameworks.
In the months ahead, the Institute and FP Canada will launch a series of research initiatives that will allow both organizations to further explore the identified key outcomes. A detailed research plan is under development to guide and prioritize the activities of phase two (investigation), which we’ll follow up with our third and final stage (implementation).