The Canadian Investment Regulatory Organization (CIRO) says Fitch Learning, the regulator’s partner in its new proficiency regime, is supporting the regulator with exam design — not with courses. The regulator’s statement follows Fitch Learning’s announced acquisition of Moody’s education businesses, including the Canadian Securities Institute (CSI).
CIRO’s exam-based proficiency for investment dealer personnel, which requires no prerequisite courses and begins on Jan. 1, 2026, marks the end of the regulator’s (and its predecessors’) longtime agreement with the CSI as the sole provider of proficiency education for investment dealers.
While CIRO announced last fall that Fitch Learning, the London, England–based global financial education provider, would be the regulator’s service provider for exam design and delivery, Fitch Learning recently said it was acquiring Moody’s-owned CSI, along with Moody’s Analytics Learning Solutions, a global provider of credit training.
When asked if Fitch Learning would provide curriculum, the regulator said in an emailed statement that its proficiency model was “proposed based on best practices that include separation from preparatory courses.”
“We will continue to work with Fitch to foster a healthy education market of preparatory providers without any changes to our commitment and expectations from Fitch in supporting us [to] achieve our objectives,” the statement said. “Fitch Learning understands this and is committed to supporting our objectives as planned, including a commitment to refrain from acting as a preparatory course provider for the CIRO exams being designed and delivered under the new proficiency model.”
When asked if Fitch would potentially develop curriculum (as opposed to exam-preparation courses), CIRO said, “Fitch Learning is supporting us with the design of the syllabus and the exams (not courses) for investment dealer-approved persons.”
Fitch Learning didn’t respond to a request for comment; the firm previously told this publication it was reserving interviews until after the deal with Moody’s closes — likely in the fourth quarter.
Rod Burylo, associate portfolio manager with Oakville, Ont.–based Equate Asset Management Inc. and an ethics educator in Calgary, Alta., said the potential for more industry educational offerings for a variety of industry participants was “a big plus” of the acquisition. Burylo has been invited to serve on the CSI’s designation ethics committee.
Burylo noted that tech capabilities facilitate content delivery: “It’s in the best interest of the industry not only to increase the [educational] offerings but to do it at a reasonable price,” he said. Ideally, that content would be focused specifically on Canadian financial services, he added. At the same time, Burylo acknowledged concerns about a potential monopoly in education, which could increase prices.
Following the closure of the IFSE Institute, the CSI is the sole provider of mutual fund proficiency, which is the purview of the Canadian Securities Administrators (CSA) — although it’s expected that mutual fund proficiency will eventually be rolled into CIRO’s new proficiency. The CSA has said it continues to evaluate the industry impacts of IFSE’s closure and Fitch Learning’s acquisition of CSI.
“There are some questions … whether that [mutual fund proficiency] comes into scope of a future stage of the proficiency project and how that’s dealt with,” Michael Thom, managing director of CFA Societies Canada, said.
The biggest question ahead of the new proficiency’s Jan. 1 launch, Thom said, is “what will the exam-prep provider landscape look like for the new exams — and we just don’t know right now.”
Overall, Thom said he’s taking a “wait-and-see approach” as the new proficiency regime evolves. As things stand, he looks forward to “a positive new direction” for industry education, he said.
John Waldron, founder of education provider Learnedly Canada Inc. in Toronto, continues to question, as he did during the proficiency consultation process, whether the industry is large enough — especially in certain registration categories — to support a high-quality competitive market of education providers through an open proficiency model. Canada’s two languages are a complicating factor. The regulator would potentially have to become a curriculum provider, he said.
In the event of potential curriculum development, Waldron suggested that CIRO would need to publish a statement detailing the materials to be developed and the circumstances that would necessitate the development of additional materials; Fitch Learning would need to publish something similar, he said, and explain how it would ensure it maintains separation between exams and CSI content, in order to manage the conflict of interest.