The Personal Finance Society says it has secured a “vital” post-Brexit European foothold for UK financial advisers by officially aligning the qualifications framework of its 37,500 members with their counterparts across the rest of the continent.

The PFS already acts as the UK representative of the European Financial Planning Association (EPFA) and has reached an agreement of “mutual recognition” which will enable nearly two thirds of its qualified members to use an additional European qualification designation of EFA or EFP.

Holders of DipPFS and above will be entitled to use the European designations from their 2018 renewal date onwards.

PFS chief executive, Keith Richards, said: “EFPA is one of the largest and most respected professional licensing, standard setting and certification bodies for Financial Planners and financial advisers in Europe and was the first European financial standards association created for the purpose of increasing professionalism in the European financial services sector.

“This positive collaboration gives UK advisers greater certainty in advance of Brexit, in the knowledge that the Personal Finance Society qualifications framework is now recognised via the EFA and EFP European Financial Planning standards, which are accredited by certain European regulators.

“The new link will ensure that consumers who wish to access advice from UK advisers, or maintain existing relationships in a post-Brexit environment, will in future be able to do so as part of an all-embracing quality standard all over Europe.”

EFPA executive manager Karim Zouhdi, added: “This agreement will combine the knowledge and experience of the leading entities in Europe and the UK. New EFPA UK certificate holders will become part of the EFPA family, joining more than 40,000 members.

“These certificate holders will benefit from a deeper understanding of financial products, compliance under new European regulation such as MiFID II, and an increase in the value of professional training through certification. They will also benefit from a continuing professional development programme, which will allow professional mobility and mutual recognition in more than 10 countries in Europe.”

The link was announced at the PFS annual conference - the ‘Festival of Financial Planning’ at the NEC, Birmingham, this week.