The new exam-based proficiency regime for investment dealer personnel will begin on Jan. 1, and FP Canada stands at the ready to prepare prospective dealer reps to write their exams.
“We are developing study resources for candidates who want to challenge the two new retail securities exams,” said Alexandra Macqueen, vice-president of learning, development and professional practice with FP Canada, and head of its educational arm, the FP Canada Institute.
Those exams are the Canadian Investment Regulatory Exam (CIRE) and the Retail Securities Exam — both of which must be written by those seeking registration as a registered representative (advises and trades) at an investment dealer, under the Canadian Investment Regulatory Organization’s new proficiency regime. Those seeking registration as an investment representative (trades but doesn’t advise) at an investment dealer must write the CIRE. (Frequently asked questions about the exam-based proficiency are posted online.)
CIRO’s exam-based proficiency ends the long-standing position of the Canadian Securities Institute at the centre of industry education.
“We are certainly talking with our industry partners and letting them know … that we’re entering this market space,” Macqueen said.
Providing study materials for the new proficiency is “a natural extension of the financial services education we already provide,” Macqueen said. She took the helm at the FP Canada Institute two and a half years ago as FP Canada brought the education for its designations fully in-house (and in the process dropped Advocis and the Canadian Institute of Financial Planning as education providers).
FP Canada’s study materials for the CIRO exams will have a “holistic financial planning lens,” Macqueen said. “I truly believe that’s the future the industry is driving towards.”
More generally, a planning approach helps industry professionals “develop and maintain strong career prospects,” she said.
Based on FP Canada records, about 39% of the certification body’s designation holders report that they’re securities-licensed (and 38% say they’re mutual fund–licensed).
Providing proficiency study materials is also a way for FP Canada to “engage with people much earlier” in their careers, Macqueen said, and potentially “build a more diverse, younger set of [FP Canada] certificants.”
Among FP Canada’s stated priorities through 2030 is growing the number of professionals it oversees — those with the certified financial planner and qualified associate financial planner designations — to 25,000 from roughly 19,000 today, as well as lowering the average age of new students and better representing the Canadian population among its designation holders.
FP Canada has also been building its continuing education (CE) catalogue this year. On Wednesday, the certification body said it partnered with U.S.-based Kitces.com, which is published by well-known financial planner Michael Kitces, to offer two on-demand webinars for CE credits. More than 100 hours of Kitces.com content, which are eligible for CE credits from the CFP Board in the U.S., will also be eligible for CE credits from FP Canada.
“Financial planning is increasingly a global profession,” Macqueen said. “More and more, we’re hearing that planners are serving clients with cross-border financial interests, so access to relevant education is essential.”
FP Canada recently signed a memorandum of understanding with its counterpart in South Africa, and in June the certification body signed another memorandum with the Chartered Professional Accountants of Canada for CE and events, among other initiatives.