The next level
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The Chartered Insurance Institute is the UK body represented on the board of the European Financial Planning Association. Over the past two to three years EFPA has helped deliver two important pieces of work. The first is the Equalifise project, which has collated information on financial adviser qualifications across the EU. It has also developed a methodology for mapping the level of each qualification against the European Qualifications Framework.
The CII was a major contributor to this work together with partners from a wide range of EU countries. A parallel project worked on developing a set of competency standards for financial advisers which the awarding bodies and financial institutions in the EU can use to benchmark their qualifications.
Does all this sound familiar? While the EU has yet to make any mandatory requirements for professional qualifications, there is a lot of interest being paid to this area and the framework, although not as developed yet as in the UK, is already in place.
Now I have raised the age-old subject of levels, I must mention something that has emerged from the PFS qualification workshops we are currently running around the country. After the mandatory requirement for the old financial planning certificate back in 1997, quite a number of members attending these events said that, encouraged by their success, they went on to sit the advanced financial planning certificate exams.
Some passed G10 or G60, others failed and confessed they had found them difficult and were now daunted at the thought of facing this again. I can sympathise - I remember taking G60 and it was not a particularly adviser-friendly exam.
The CII responded to adviser sentiment that the step from a level-three qualification to a much higher one was perhaps too demanding, hence the creation of the diploma. Not only is the diploma level four but it is offered in smaller units. Take for example the old G10 exam - it covered both tax and trusts at the higher level, whereas the diploma offers two separate exams (JO1 and JO2) at a lower level.
So if you are one of those who were unsuccessful with the AFPC, do not be put off. You will not be reliving the experience.
Fay Goddard is chief executive of the Personal Finance Society
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Readers' comments (1)
Phil Castle | 28 Sep 2009 6:19 am
How many advisers do we want?
Average number of those passing a J0 exam is under 50%, i.e. 50% fail EVERY JO exam a tleast once. For Level 4 to be mandatory within even the 3 year remaining period AND keep business ticking over is therefore a big ask, especially when the CII refuse to return marked exam papers so that an adviser can see where they are going wrong!
I suspect mine is my handwriting, but I will NEVER know and yet I write NOTHINg by hand for a client, I type it all!
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