The standards advice firms must meet to call themselves Chartered are set to get much tougher, as the Chartered Insurance Institute (CII) embarks on a radical overhaul of the label.
By 2020 at least half of the advisers within Chartered firms must be chartered individuals, a significant leap from current requirements.
At the moment, the CII requires chartered firms to have at least one Chartered financial planner on its board, and for 90% of customer-facing staff to be members of the CII or Personal Finance Society.
The rules will change in two stages; from July 2017, 25% of firms' advisers must be chartered for the whole business to use the label, before the figure doubles to 50% by January 2020.
There is a significant commercial benefit
Steve Jenkins, director of financial services and insurance markets at the CII, said the move followed demand from consumers.
"[The changes represent] what customers expect of Chartered firms.
"They don't expect all advisers in a firm to be Chartered, but they expect to be able to access one easily."
Smaller Chartered firms are likely to be already meeting the new requirements, Jenkins said.
The CII will be working with larger firms who may need to do more to meet the overhauled criteria, he said.
Jenkins said to those advisers critical of the move from a qualifications body to mandate more and costly qualifications to achieve the same firm status, the trade-off is a better bottom line for firms.
"There is a significant commercial benefit.
"We asked customers to describe what they thought was meant by Chartered. They said, ‘special, premium, top-end'. People attach value to it. They will pay for it.
"It also helps with professional connections because there is a parity of esteem."
The move is part of a greater emphasis from the CII on creating a customer-focused culture in the conduct of Chartered firms and individuals, Jenkins said.
