The Securities and Exchange Commission has expanded the CFP Board of Standards' power to discipline advisors now that it has made it clear that Registered Investment Advisers (RIA) and broker-dealers can provide client information to the board without violating a privacy rule and facing an SEC enforcement action.
Advisors often have cited Regulation S-P, a federal privacy rule, as the reason they could not share client information with the CFB Board of Standards concerning a customer complaint. SEC has now sent the CFP Board a "No Action" letter that says the SEC staff will not bring an enforcement action against a broker-dealer or registered investment advisors that shares non-public personal customer information with CFP Board. While Regulation S-P is intended to protect the privacy rights of customers, the No Action letter acknowledges that protecting the public from criminal and improper conduct is paramount to ensuring investor confidence, the Board says.
A number of participants in the structured settlement industry are CFPs or financial advisors and a number of structured settlement brokers , settlement planners and firms have relationships with financial planners and advisors.
Perhaps the expanded power of the CFP Board will impact sectors of the structured settlement industry. As has been documented here over the years, despite having a published code of ethics, unfortunately, the National Structured Settlement Trade Association (NSSTA), which awards the Certified Structured Settlement Consultant designation, has historically failed to enforce its own code of ethics.
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