We have become a member of the Financial Planning Club (FPC) - a fast-growing, practitioner-led community for financial planning business owners and teams. Our involvement is based on a shared commitment to improving processes that power advice businesses, with a particular focus on tackling persistent pain points like Letter of Authority (LoA).

Why this matters

Financial planning firms are scaling in a challenging environment. They’re juggling client onboarding, data portability, tech selection, and regulatory pressures likes consumer duty, all while still delivering great client outcomes. That is exactly where the FPC’s model shines: practical peer support, hands-on consultancy, and a trusted forum to explore what works.

Our mission is to connect different systems so that the business of advice flows simpler, faster, and more consistent. Joining the FPC puts us closer to the day-to-day challenges practitioners are solving, so we can help remove friction where it counts most.

In conversation: Nick Green on the Financial Planning Club podcast

During the recent Verve event, Nick Green, our Strategic and Proposition Director, joined the FPC podcast for a candid, wide-ranging discussion. Nick shared the story behind his career journey, reflected on the hot-button issues facing financial planning business owners, and spent time on a topic close to our heart: the complexities surrounding LoA.

LoA remains one of the sector’s most stubborn pain points - time-consuming for firms, frustrating for clients, and prone to inconsistency. Nick explored how better standards, practical collaboration and integration across providers, platforms, and tech partners can reduce delays, shrink rework, and improve client experience. He also weighed in on the one problem he’d fix with a “magic wand,” underscoring our belief that industry-wide simplification is both achievable and urgent.

Engaging with the FPC community

Our membership is designed to be practical and collaborative from day one:

  • Listening to advisers: we’ll engage directly with business owners and operations leaders to understand where processes hold firms back and where modest changes can deliver outsized gains.
  • Contributing know‑how: we’ll share insights on technology and system integrations that reduce complexity and improve client journeys.
  • Co‑creating improvements: we’ll continue partnering with advisers, paraplanners, ops managers, platforms, and tech vendors to trial changes, measure impact, and scale what works.
  • Amplifying what works: with the FPC’s community channels and events, we’ll help surface repeatable solutions and build momentum behind proven practices so that as many advice firms as possible can reap the benefits.

Nick Green, Strategic and Proposition Director: 

Becoming a member of the Financial Planning club is a natural step for us as it puts us right at the heart of the conversations that matter most to advisers. This aligns with how we drive real change in our industry: integration through collaboration. By working shoulder‑to‑shoulder with members in the FPC, we can shorten feedback loops, turn on‑the‑ground challenges into workable standards faster, and scale what works. Every friction we remove - especially around LoA and data portability - gives advisers time back and lifts the client experience.

Why advisers hold the key to quality integrations

You don't get what you don't ask for. When advisers demand better, robust integrations follow. Whether it’s automated LoAs, or straight-through platform account opening, these standards-based integrations only come to life through adviser momentum. 

That pressure accelerates development, and in return means less time chasing data, fewer duplicate tasks, and smoother client journeys – because information flows where it should, when it should. 

By engaging with standards, challenging inefficiencies, and sharing real-world feedback, advisers can shape the solutions that matter most. Together, we can move the dial on integrations from theory to practice, and from something “nice to have” to something that drives measurable value for firms and clients alike.

Amanda Ford, Co-Founder of the Financial Planning Club: 

Collaboration is at the heart of The Financial Planning Club. Partnering with Criterion gives us the opportunity to align with an organisation that champions industry-wide standards and innovation, helping advisers deliver greater value and consistency for their clients.