As the financial advice profession wrestles with its future identity—sales-driven or planning-led—recent developments at two key professional bodies cast a spotlight on the road ahead.
PFS Appoints Carla Brown: A Sales Industry Signal
The Personal Finance Society (PFS) has appointed Carla Brown, chief executive of Oakmere Wealth Management and a prominent St. James’s Place (SJP) practice principal, as both chair and president. The move restores a traditional structure where one individual holds both titles and appears to consolidate leadership at a time of organisational uncertainty.
For many, the appointment of a senior executive from a vertically integrated advice model—one frequently critiqued for its sales-heavy culture—sends a clear message about the direction the PFS is taking. Brown’s SJP background will be seen by critics as emblematic of an industry approach prioritising product distribution over client-centric planning.
While Brown is a Chartered Financial Planner and respected leader, her firm’s affiliation with SJP may reinforce perceptions that the PFS remains aligned more with financial product sales than with the evolving discipline of holistic life planning. This move follows the tumultuous governance disputes between the PFS and its parent, the Chartered Insurance Institute (CII), which sparked widespread disillusionment among planning-led professionals in 2023.
CISI Growth: A Home for Planners?
In contrast, the Chartered Institute for Securities & Investment (CISI) has steadily grown its membership by 28% over the last five years, despite serving a broader financial services base. Notably, its Chartered Financial Planning firms have grown in stature, with more firms achieving accreditation and more advisers looking to shift away from the perceived instability and product-aligned posture of the PFS.
While the PFS’s membership has plateaued—showing signs of decline since 2022—the CISI’s inclusive and increasingly planning-oriented culture has struck a chord with many advisers seeking professionalism, independence, and long-term credibility. Indeed, some financial planners have publicly expressed their willingness to abandon their ‘Chartered’ status if it means leaving behind organisational entanglements they no longer trust.
Which Pathway Are You On?
Depending on where you sit in the advice spectrum, these developments may feel like either a homecoming or a parting of ways. For those inclined toward traditional financial product distribution, the PFS’s leadership choices may affirm a familiar culture. But for those invested in genuine, client-led planning—as a profession, not a sales role—the CISI’s trajectory could mark the more credible future.
This moment could be seen as a signpost for the financial advice sector: a clear divergence between sales-centric institutions and those committed to evolving financial planning into a fully-fledged, standalone profession.
One pathway sells products.
The other empowers people.
The choice—for advisers and their clients—has never been more stark.
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