A wide range of professionals across the financial services sector are looking for the best finance courses to complete Continuing Professional Development (CPD). CPD in the finance industry is often mandatory to professional bodies and associations, which include CPD requirements for financial advisers, planners and investments specialists for example. Organisations working in financial services typically become accredited CPD providers if they provide any form of structured CPD for financial advisers, seminars, training courses and events, or alternatively have internal training for staff that may have CPD obligations.
CPD Requirements for Financial Advisers
When completing Continuing Professional Development, financial advisers, planners and investment specialists should identify what CPD requirements to carry out their role effectively as well as build a plan towards their career ambitions. Continuing Professional Development requirements in financial services range from 12 hours for a qualifying Institute of Financial Services student up to 35+ hours for fully qualified financial advisers, planners and investments specialists. CPD requirements for financial advisers are not solely limited to technical learning but should embrace all training that is essential to management, business and professional people skills.
Structured CPD for Financial Advisers
The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) provide a Continuing Professional Development resources framework for information relating to the CPD requirements for Financial Advisers. The FCA support use of Continuing Professional Development as part of professional standards compliance. The FCA state the CPD requirements for Financial Advisers is that; “Advisers will need to complete a minimum of 35 hours of Continuing Professional Development (CPD) each year for retail investment activities, of which 21 hours should be structured. If you carry out other retail activities, such as mortgage advice or managing funds, you will need carry out CPD for that activity as well.”
There are a number of different types of Continuing Professional Development which include structured CPD for financial advisers, reflective CPD and self-directed CPD. More information can be found on the CPD Explained page. When a financial adviser completes their annual Continuing Professional Development they should look to do structured CPD activities that cover financial technical knowledge, professional skills, as well as changes to markets, legislation and investment products.
The accountability for completing Continuing Professional Development lies with each financial adviser and investment specialist within their professional standards conduct at the various industry professional institutes. However we have seen more and more financial services employers taking a proactive and supporting role with the structured CPD requirements of their staff. The importance of Continuing Professional Development in financial services is growing and the common misconception that structured CPD for financial advisers takes significant time is diminishing. The availability of more flexible learning suited to the CPD requirements of financial advisers and investment specialists is increasing. The introduction of online finance courses with certificates, modules, and distance learning provides ease to complete CPD as well as create new business development opportunities.
Benefits of online CPD for Investment Specialists
Online CPD is becoming one of the most popular alternatives to traditional learning methods used by investment specialists and some of the best finance courses can now be made available online. The convenience of eLearning technology has significantly improved, and it is reasonable to say some structured CPD can be just as effective online as face-to-face training courses. Financial advisers with limited available time can find many benefits to the flexibility provided by from eLearning. Online CPD can often be more affordable than traditional training courses, with no commuting costs to consider as well as the materials being available online instead of textbooks, handouts and books for example. Online finance courses with certificates can be completed at any time with simple structured CPD modules that fit easily within the working week.
The flexibility of online CPD allows an investment specialist to plan their learning around work priorities instead of the other way around. Financial advisers can study at their own ideal time whether early in the morning or late at night. Online learning has great benefits to CPD requirements for financial advisers and planners who need to balance their work and family commitments more strictly.
Online CPD allows the flow of financial knowledge to be transmitted without the restrictions of geographical locations. More and more financial services organisations as well as the best training companies are providing both traditional and online finance courses to cater for the varied preferences and locations of financial advisers, planners and investment specialists across the UK.
Structured CPD Accreditation for Financial Services
Many finance organisations are able to benefit from structured CPD accreditation for training courses, workshops, seminars and events. The CPD Certification Service help organisations develop learning activities to suit the CPD requirements for financial advisers and their annual Continuing Professional Development obligations. Gaining CPD accreditation for training seminars and online finance courses helps organisations validate their knowledge to an industry recognised approach to learning. Organisations typically obtain CPD accreditation to increase delegate bookings, create competitive advantage from other financial services in the market, as well as increase their presence as industry experts to meet more of the right target audience.
Providing structured CPD for financial advisers and investment specialists with CPD accreditation from the UK’s largest and leading independent Continuing Professional Development service can help organisations to meet new audiences with a recognised industry learning standards. Providing the best finance courses as online finance courses with certificates in Continuing Professional Development demonstrates the steps taken to deliver the highest learning criteria. As an accredited CPD provider your organisation will be listed in the CPD Providers Directory, as well as any finance courses and seminars listed in the Finance CPD Hub. To help with the process we provide a full delegate certificate service (DCS) saving you time and the cost of post-training attendee certificates administration.
This article provides a quick overview of the CPD requirements for Financial Advisers. For more information on what is Continuing Professional Development please visit the CPD Explained page, or alternatively find out about becoming CPD accredited.
