Certified Financial Planners will have to clearly show the value they provide above robo-advice tools as they become more common, the worldwide body for Financial Planning says.

The Financial Planning Standards Board has been examining the implications of fintech and automated advice for Financial Planning over the last 12 months.

The organisation released a global report called Fintech and the Future of Financial Planning at its semi-annual meeting in Amsterdam yesterday.

FPSB CEO Noel Maye said: “When we started researching fintech in 2015, many CFP professionals saw automated advice tools as both a threat and an opportunity.

“A year later, Financial Planners are considering fintech to be a complement to their businesses.

“However, as the use of fintech tools grows, planners will need to clearly differentiate the value they provide over fully automated advice tools, so consumers understand what they’re getting from the automated tools and why life’s better when working with a CFP professional.”

The Chartered Institute for Securities & Investment is the marks licensing authority for the CFP marks in the United Kingdom, through agreement with FPSB. This followed on from the agreement with the IFP, which merged with the CISI last year.

FPSB is encouraging planners around the world to discuss the report’s findings. It based the publication on more than 1,700 survey responses from CFP professionals in 29 territories around the world, as well as from FPSB member organizations in 26 territories.

Through several surveys, FPSB invited its members and CFP professionals to comment on: factors driving demand for fintech tools; which parts of the financial planning process could be automated; which consumers would be best suited to use fintech tools; what practitioners’ expectations are for fintech innovation in the near future; and what roles regulators and the profession should play in overseeing the use of fintech tools by practitioners.

Mr Maye said FPSB is using its research to present a set of considerations for Financial Planning professional bodies and Financial Planners to develop positions and approaches to address fintech and the future of Financial Planning.

Mr Maye said: “FPSB’s goal is to encourage a global conversation within the Financial Planning community to ensure that, regardless of technological advances in, and automation of, advice models, consumers will continue to have access to financial advice that is in their best interests from humans (or technology) competent to provide that advice in an ethical manner.”