Canada’s financial professionals will face a looming December deadline to complete their continuing education.

The first cycle of the securities industry’s regulatory requirement for continuing education will end in three months. Companies in non-compliance face monthly fines of up to $500 per registrant. Fines are levied against the securities firm itself and, after six months, firms face suspension of their registrant’s trading privileges.

The Canadian Securities Institute has launched a website for compliance managers across the country dedicated solely to the requirement (www.takeCEnow.com). The site provides a calendar of CE seminars in Halifax, St. John, Toronto, Calgary, Edmonton and Vancouver on ethics, securities law, hedge funds and fixed income investing. In addition, compliance managers will find a concise summary of CE requirements. A tracking tool on the site can measure a firm’s CE readiness and generates client and regulatory reports. Other resources on the site include downloads of posters, newsletter articles, email templates and grant and corporate sponsor information for branch managers, compliance officers and trainers.

“We’ve made this resource as user-friendly as possible” said Lori Smith, CSI’s National Director of Sales in a news release. “All the information can be downloaded and cut and pasted. Everything is here that companies in the industry need to know about CE compliance and the December 31 deadline. And CSI’s on-line CE courses are divided into bite-sized lessons for busy financial services professionals juggling to meet the deadline.”

Compliance courses can be taken from CSI directly or firms may offer their own compliance courses. Product Knowledge/Professional Development courses are available from a variety of approved sources. The next three year continuing education cycle for the industry begins on January 1, 2003.