Make financial planning affordable: Damodaran

Sebi chairman, M Damodaran has asked the Financial Planning Standards Board (FPSB) to ensure that the cost of service is affordable to all.

Speaking at the opening ceremony of the FPSB's financial planning convention 2005, he said: "The cost of availing a financial advisor should be affordable to the masses. More the money that a financial planner charges, more would be number of people who would miss the service."

The market regulator said that planners should focus on national financial development.

He also added that a practice proven to be successful in other parts of the globe, cannot be blindly implemented without fine tuning it to local conditions.

Other key speakers also embarked on the same issues. Uday Kotak, vice chairman, Kotak Mahindra Bank gave a detailed talk on the challenge to channelise financial savings to boost national development and growth.

He also elaborated on the conflicts that exist in the financial segment with commissions driving investment advise. He said that if financial planning has to be regulated, the real challenge would be in managing the different regulatory aspects. Ashok Kini, MD, SBI said that there is need for quality investment advise that is seen among investors.

He said Certified Financial Planner (CFP) would be a boon in the present scenario, and pointed out that banks were emerging as distributors of financial products, and stressed the importance of good investment advise.

While Noel Maye, CEO, FPSB, Denver, USA summarized the importance of certified financial planners in the global scenario, Shailesh Haribhakti, chairman, FPSB threw light on the domestic picture.