'Gap In Advice Filled By Influencers Who Have No Training Or Experience'

Dante De Gori, Certified Financial Planner and global CEO of the Financial Planning Standards Board (FPSB), in an interview with Nidhi Sinha, Editor, Outlook Money, as part of the Wealth Wizards series, talks about why CFP professionals need to evolve and add to their skills, how regulation can play a role in the dissemination of financial awareness and why advisors still don't recommend crypto assets

- Nidhi Sinha

India’s population is more than 1.4 billion and there are only over 3,000 certified financial planners (CFPs). What does FPSB plan to do about this huge gap?

There are a couple of things that we can do. One is, of course, training individuals professionally, as the opportunity for employment is huge. From what I know, there are more than 80,000 jobs currently for a CFP certificate holder. There's a mismatch in demand and supply. So, the question is how quickly can people providing financial advice obtain their certification? A part of why I am here (in India) is to try and amplify that awareness and to encourage people to obtain the certification.

The second part, of course, is that people may not want to go to a professional, but still want advice or guidance and support. Here, media organisations like yours, social media and volunteers can provide support. It is impossible to have a CFP professional for everybody, and we are not advocating that. But we need to ensure that we can obtain a greater number of CFP professionals.

At the same time, CFP professionals provide education through their own publications, newsletters and social media. So (one has to think) about utilising professionals to speak to a broader audience. At the moment, the gap is being filled by social media influencers who have no training, qualifications or experience.

How do you see the Indian regulatory environment in the advisory context compared to other countries?

Every country is different in terms of the regulatory landscape, and there are different stages of maturity of the financial services marketplace and its growth. Regulators are there to protect investors and consumers in respect to their engagement with financial service providers. Many of them play a role in consumer information dissemination because it’s a trusted source.