Back story: Jacqueline Lockie CFP^TM Chartered FCSI
You previously worked at the IFP from 1999-2002. How different is it at the CISI?
Everything is on a much bigger scale at the CISI as you would expect with over 40,000 members and more than 170 staff. During my time at the IFP, when I was the director of training and education, it was very hands on with limited resources. There were so many things we wanted to do but we just did not have the funds. Being part of a much larger organisation is proving invaluable because I can call on many individuals in other teams such as membership, finance, marketing, events, integrity and others for support to help make improvements to member benefits, the CFP^TM certification assessment and support with the development of the level 4 examination pathway. 

Why did you decide to apply for this new role at the CISI?
Since leaving the Association of Investment Companies 18 months ago, I have been spending more time at home supporting my son and working part-time on financial planning and advice areas with various companies – including for the CISI –  in the capacity of CFP certification assessor. As time went on I felt I wanted to get more involved as I am still very passionate about financial planning, so when my husband told me about the job I thought it would be right up my street. Being able to work alongside Campbell again is also a bonus. Knowing someone who knows you well and I can rely on right from day one is a huge boost.

What do you assess as the biggest challenge you face and how do you intend to overcome it?
The biggest challenge? There are several large and looming challenges. Firstly, to grow the numbers of people in financial planning – not just advisers but also paraplanners, and include more financial advisers who turn to planning, as well as the wealth managers. Secondly, to help review the CFP certification assessment and to support the membership and also help with relevant content for events. Finally, I feel it is so important to support the CISI staff and help them understand what financial planning really is and how the profession fits alongside the institute’s other offerings.

How do you think the integration has gone since the merger?
I have been staggered by the amount of work going on behind the scenes by a large number of people trying hard to sort various issues out and make the transition as smooth as possible. The transition has caused some issues with communications with members, and we are working hard to correct this. I hope that by the time you read this, all will be settled and we can move forward together to spread the word about financial planning.

What do you expect to achieve over the next one and five years?
I hope that in the next 12 months we can ensure that the old IFP membership is settled and happy in the new structure. We want to continue to enhance our communications with you all and I hope you have all been receiving your regular financial planning email bulletins. We will be incorporating more financial planning information and blogs from Campbell and I, as well as a new revamped quarterly magazine with lots of content going up online. I expect significant progress on the review of our existing CFP certification assessment, but you can be sure of one thing, we won’t dumb down the standards required or make it easier! The CFP examination is an assessment of application of technical knowledge. You cannot write the right answer next to the wrong answer and get full marks! Longer term, we will be looking to the membership body –  yourselves –  to guide us on the way you want to move forward. Support to paraplanners will be at the forefront of our progress, starting with the new paraplanner interest group and, as well, a boost to regional meetings and networking opportunities, CISI TV and other media platforms.

End of an era – the last edition of Financial Planner magazineThe July Financial Planner magazine will be the last ever edition. However, I want to reassure you that its not the withdrawal of a financial planning benefit by the CISI (I can hear some of you moaning already). The print media landscape has been changing for some time and society’s growing want for instantly accessible information has resulted in advertising revenue –  which helps support the magazine – being moved away from traditional avenues such as print media to other mediums in an effort to gain consumer attention.

As a consequence, it has become difficult to gain sufficient advertiser support to fund the magazine and as a result it has become no longer financially viable to publish Financial Planner magazine. The CISI recognises the need for regular financial planning news and insight and I can assure that we have been determined to find a solution to continue to provide you with the content you know and love, and much more. To achieve this, the CISI’s current quarterly membership magazine the Securities & Investment Review, is to be transformed and from the July 2016 edition, will now also include financial planning content.The magazine will increase in size to accommodate the new content and will be rebranded to ensure the publication’s name reflects the needs of all CISI members, not just those in securities and investments.

To complement the quarterly magazine, we will also be enhancing our digital offering for financial planning members by releasing weekly online content to provide you with topical and immediate information. With the help and guidance of the members who have kindly volunteered their time to join our Financial Planning Editorial Panel, we are delving much deeper into subjects that will inform and develop our knowledge in different areas. Thanks to a suggestion raised by our Panel at the May meeting, the July edition of the new magazine will include a CPD feature on risk profiling which will address the different risk profiling tools, reference how the FCA requires risk to be assessed and will explore how financial planners and wealth managers tackle this.

I will be working closely with the CISI’s in-house publication team, along with the editorial panel, so I look forward to hearing what you think about the new publication and  any ideas you may have.