The International Organisation for Standardisation (ISO) has established a committee with four working groups to develop international standards in financial planning.

The four working groups will work on various aspects of the international standards divided into the following topics:

• Definitions, process and practices of financial planning. The responsibility for convening this working group falls to the American National Standards Institute (ANSI) the United States representative to the ISO Technical Committee.
• Competencies required for financial planning. The working group convener is Deutsches Institut für Normung (DIN) the German representative.
• Ethical requirements of financial planning. The convener of the working group is Standards Council of Canada (SCC), the Canadian representative.
• Financial planning experience requirements. The convener of the working group is Standards New Zealand (SNZ), the representative from New Zealand.

The working groups have until late April to submit proposals on their approach to various work items that were developed within the work groups.

"These working groups will play a critical role in developing draft ISO standards for financial planning," said technical committee secretary Don Bills says.

The committee was established last year to establish international standards in financial planning.