Organisers of this year's Financial Planning Week, which began on September 20 and will run until Sunday, say that response has been strong despite the recent seismic shocks to hit the financial markets, including the bankruptcy of United States investment bank Lehman Brothers, the sale of Wall Street bellwether Merrill Lynch to rival Bank of America and the bailout of insurance giant AIG.
Angeline Chin, chief executive of the Institute of Financial Planners of Hong Kong, which is organising the week-long event, said its Financial Planning Conference today was fully booked.
'This indicates that financial planning professionals are really serious about their practice and they would like to learn more from the experts so they can better serve their clients,' she said.
'Because the market environment is volatile at this moment, many of our members would think that the conference is a value-adding platform to meet with great minds and share with peers.' In its fifth year, the annual week-long event will include a conference, two seminars and an expo being held at the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre in Wan Chai, with the dual roles of increasing consumer awareness about the importance of financial planning, and encouraging people to study the institute's certified financial planner (CFP) programme.
'The Financial Planning Week aims to increase the awareness of financial planning, and the important role that CFP professionals play in upholding high standards of ethical practice,' Ms Chin said.
This year's themes - recruitment in the financial planning sector, and promoting the importance of financial planning to consumers - were chosen to reflect the trends in the marketplace, she said, adding that about 1,400 people were expected to participate in the conference and seminars.