The Securities Commission (SC) and Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM) are coming out with the framework to streamline the qualifications for financial planners by year-end or early next year, SC executive director Datuk Siow Kim Lun said.

Currently, there are two different types of licences for financial planners, which are issued by the SC and BNM, respectively, he told FinancialDaily after launching the Financial Expo (Finex) 2006 in Kuala Lumpur on Nov 17.

“They (BNM licensees) are called financial advisers. We (SC licensees) are called investment advisers. They are more insurance-based. So, there are some slight differences in terms of requirements,” Siow said.

As such, the SC is working with BNM to come out a mutual recognition framework, which will facilitate financial adviser licence holders to become investment advisers, and vice-versa, with the same qualifications.

“We hope to get it (the framework) out soon. Maybe early part of next year, if not, end of this year,” Siow said.

He added that Certified Financial Planner (CFP) would be one of the qualifications to be recognised under the framework.

There are two main professional qualifications for financial planners in Malaysia, namely the CFP, run by the Financial Planning Association of Malaysia (FPAM), and the Registered Financial Planners (RFP) qualification, issued by the Malaysian Financial Planning Council (MFPC).