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As a new corporate partner of Cass Business School, international asset management company Threadneedle has challenged students to address economic dilemmas faced around the world and receive a valuable sponsorship to further their studies.
 
The Threadneedle Investment Award will provide a scholarship equivalent to £20,000 (approx $30,000 AUD) to the winning entry, selected from three regional finalists.
 
Students from Europe, the Middle East & Africa, and Asia Pacific applying for a place on the MSc Investment Management at Cass Business School are invited to write an essay addressing a specific economic question relevant to their region, and to identify opportunities for the investment management industry in relation to it.
 
A finalist will be chosen from each of the three regions and invited to London for the final assessment in July 2011, where they will be interviewed by a panel of judges from Threadneedle and Cass.  The winner’s tuition fees for the one year MSc course at the celebrated business school will be paid for by Threadneedle. They will also be offered an internship at Threadneedle in London which will form part of the course.  The two runners up will be awarded 5,000 GBP each towards their tuition fees.
 
Campbell Fleming, Threadneedle’s Head of Distribution commented: “We put great store by fresh thinking here at Threadneedle and believe the ideas of bright people at the very start of their careers with an interest in investment management can provide contribute to our industry in new ways.
 
“Our partnership with Cass brings together two leaders in investment thinking. Threadneedle’s well-established investment philosophy is based on a collaborative approach of active debate and sharing of ideas, and this has been fundamental to achieving sustained out-performance for our clients. The Threadneedle Investment Award and our partnership with Cass mark our commitment to this philosophy.”
 
Richard Gillingwater, Dean of Cass Business School said:  “‘This award from Threadneedle is a great example of business and education working together for mutual benefit. The support that the award offers is not only financial; as well as the payment of fees Threadneedle is offering front line experience and career opportunities within a competitive sector. As a world class player, Threadneedle, is providing a unique and invaluable opportunity for a budding investment manager.”

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Conducted by Dr June Smith through Victoria University, the research: Ethics and financial advice: the final frontier, looks at ethical and professional issues associated with the provision of financial advice in Australia. The research represents one of the first studies of its kind in the world.

The study revealed a real reputation risk for financial advisory firms that cannot ensure their planners can meet ever increasing ethical and conduct standards.

Significantly, advisers who hold a professional designation or accreditation were found to have higher ethical reasoning levels than those who do not. In particular, CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER professionals had the highest level of ethical reasoning and as a result are best prepared to face complex ethical dilemmas in daily practice.

“Ethical conduct and behaviour are pivotal to the ability of financial advisers to retain the trust and confidence of clients and to ensure quality financial advisory outcomes,” Dr Smith said. “Financial Planning, in particular, is also an emerging profession both within Australia and internationally, and requires a strong ethical context to meet stakeholder expectations concerning the conduct and behaviour of its participants.”

“The findings in this study suggest that all financial advisers within the sector should be encouraged to join a professional association and undertake ethics training and education courses as part of an accreditation process.”

The study also recommends financial services organisations use CFP® practitioners in ethical leadership and mentoring roles and supports the move to a professional year in line with FPA standards.

In its new three year strategic plan launched in late 2010, the FPA proposed that from July 2013, new members require an approved undergraduate degree (or higher) qualification and undertake a supervised professional year program to ensure they earn the right to represent FPA professionals in the community.

“As this research concludes, the Future of Financial Advice reforms (FOFA) are just a first step in raising  the conduct and professional standards within the financial advisory sector,” FPA CEO Mark Rantall said.

“Higher educational standards, adherence to a professional Code of Ethics and exposure to professional obligations raise industry standards and best protect the financial future of all Australians.”

For a copy of the research report please click here.

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An Articulation Agreement between the Mentor Education Group (Mentor) and the University of New England (UNE) means Mentor graduates can now receive advanced standing if they apply for a Bachelor of Financial Services from UNE.

“Higher education is becoming clearly recognised as a requirement of providing professional financial advice,” UNE School of Business Economics and Public Policy Associate Professor Martin Hovey says. “We are looking forward to offering Mentor students recognition of their earlier work when pursuing our Bachelor of Financial Services qualification.”

The Articulation Agreement significantly streamlines UNE’s financial services degree for Mentor graduates.

Graduates of Mentor’s Diploma of Financial Services (Financial Planning) will receive an advanced standing of 48 credit points. This represents 33% of UNE’s course requirement for the Bachelor of Financial Services degree, equating to a 12-month reduction in the length of the course.

Graduates of Mentor’s Advanced Diploma of Financial Services (Financial Planning) will receive a 60 credit point advanced standing, representing 42% of UNE’s course requirement.

“The value of Mentor’s Diploma and Advanced Diploma is well-known in the financial services industry,” Mentor’s Managing Director Dr Mark Sinclair says. “But the articulation to the Degree of Financial Services is validation of the high calibre of our courses.”

In April this year, the government announced the Future of Financial Advice Reforms outlining the importance of increased professionalism in the financial planning industry through education.

It is expected the accreditation opportunity will be welcomed by financial advisers keen to pre-empt the legislation and the demands of their professional associations to upgrade their qualifications to a degree.

“In the environment of change which is facing our profession, this is very good news for advisers and our students,” says FPA Life Member, a founder of Godfrey Pembroke and Chairman of the Mentor Education
Group Advisory Board, John Godfrey. “The flexibility offered by external study will be attractive to advisers working in an ever-changing regulatory environment.”

For more information regarding the Bachelor of Financial Services visit www.une.edu.au/finserv

For more information regarding the Diploma or Advanced Diploma visit www.rg146.edu.au or www.mentoreducation.com.au

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Out of the 213 new and repeating financial planners participating, 125 passed, which is an overall pass rate of 59%.

“I am very pleased to be able to congratulate so many dedicated FPA members on passing the stringent Certification Assessment processes,” Mr Rantall said.

“The pass requirements for Certification have been set extremely high to ensure only the best quality professionals carry the CFP® designation.  Over the last 7 years, the average percentage of members who successfully pass the requirements has been 51%, so this higher pass rate of 59% reflects the increasing standards of members undergoing CFP certification.

In the future, the FPA will focus on differentiating its members from other financial planners. CFP® professionals who have achieved this global standard of excellence are an important part of this differentiation, Mr Rantall said.

“We continue to raise the bar on educational standards within the Profession and we applaud the CFP® Professionals who have met those standards,” Mr Rantall continued.

The CFP® Mark represents the global standard of excellence in financial planning and is accredited by the Financial Planning Standards Board (FPSB).

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AMP Horizons Director Tim Steele said the introduction of the Diploma to the Horizons suite demonstrates AMP’s commitment to raising the standards of education in the financial planning industry.

“During our recruitment process at the Horizons Academy we recognised there was a large candidate base looking for the opportunity to complete their Diploma of Financial Services,” Mr Steele said.

The Diploma of Financial Services is designed for those who want to start a career in the financial services industry, or expand on an existing one.

AMP, in conjunction with Pinnacle Financial Services Academy, will offer the Diploma of Financial Services (Financial Planning) as a six month course, with elective face to face weekly tutorials held at the AMP Horizons Academy in St Leonards, Sydney.

Through offering this new course AMP Horizons is adding to its training suite. The Diploma of Financial Services is prerequisite for those who want to be considered for the Academy’s highly sought after Professional Year Program, a financial planning boot camp for those who are serious about becoming financial planners.

“The Diploma further enhances the quality of offering to our future planners, providing them with the first milestone of professional development training and learning, aimed at growing expertise in the financial planning industry,” Mr Steele said.

The structure of the course develops the generic and specialist knowledge required to provide advice to clients, as well as modules focusing on the development of advisory skills and construction of advice recommendations.

“This course offers considerably more face to face time than other programs in the market, providing students with an opportunity to receive direct mentoring and resolve difficulties progressively throughout the training,” Mr Steele added.

Pinnacle is an Australian-owned financial planning education company that provides accredited training services in the financial services sector.

Pinnacle’s Managing Director John Prowse said by offering the Diploma of Financial Services, AMP is boosting the professionalism of the industry.
“Providing comprehensive and high quality training is essential in building strong careers in the Financial Planning Industry. We are delighted to have the opportunity to partner with AMP,” Mr Prowse said.

The first intake for the Diploma of Financial Services is scheduled to commence on 13 January 2011. Completion of this Diploma does not guarantee entry into the Horizons Professional Year Program as standard application process applies.

For more information on the course and enrolment, please contact horizons_academy@amp.com.au or Pinnacle on 1300 782 822 or info@pinnacle.edu.au.

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From October this year, AMP Flexible Lifetime Protection will be rolled out to Bendigo Bank’s 460
branches.

AMP Director Product Manufacturing Paul Sainsbury said the alliance with Bendigo Bank gives
AMP an opportunity to build a strategic relationship with a highly regarded financial services
institution and broaden its distribution reach to Australians needing quality wealth solutions.

“AMP aims to develop new channels that give more Australians greater access to financial advice
and important products such as life insurance,” Mr Sainsbury said.

“AMP’s alliance with Bendigo Bank demonstrates our commitment to achieving this aim and our
capability to provide our partners with the necessary support, training and development for their
financial planners and other advice providers.

“We were able to innovatively tailor a life insurance solution and provide support services that
suited the needs of the Bendigo Bank network and ultimately its customers,” Mr Sainsbury said.

Bendigo and Adelaide Bank Executive Retail Dennis Bice said Bendigo Bank wanted to partner
with a strong brand with proven experience in the life insurance space as well as an established
and supportive service model.

“The bank recently launched its transition to advice program, an investment which will allow us to
have more meaningful conversations with our customers and ultimately drive better outcomes for
them,” Mr Bice said.

AMP has developed an ongoing training and support program tailored for both the bank’s
experienced financial planners and new personal advisers.

“The training and support that AMP offers was a vital part of their offering to help us successfully
achieve this transition and our alliance with AMP enhances the bank’s wealth management
offering,” Mr Bice added.

Initially, more than 60 of Bendigo Bank’s 460 branches will have staff trained to provide limited
personal advice on Tier One products including insurance, superannuation and managed funds.

“However, it’s the bank’s aim to have an accredited representative in every branch to enhance the
range of advice solutions available to our customers,” Mr Bice concluded.

AMP’s Flexible Lifetime Protection Trauma Cover Optimum recently won Trauma Product of the
Year at the 2010 AFR Smart Investor Blue Ribbon Awards.

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A financial planner is someone who provides personal advice to individuals and small businesses concerning financial strategies and products in areas such as superannuation, investment, insurance and personal financial management.

To practice as a financial planner, an individual must both;

• operate under an Australian Financial Services Licence (AFSL), either as a licensee or as a representative of a licensee, and
• be competent to practice

Australian Financial Services Licence (AFSL)

Licensees may be individuals or companies, so an individual offering financial planning services can choose to:

• apply for a licence either personally or for a company they control, or
• operate as an employee or authorised representative of another licensee. Large institutions such as banks and insurance companies who offer financial planning services hold licences, sometime authorising hundreds of smaller corporate or individual financial planning practices to act as representatives under their licences.

Because of the difficulties and cost of replicating the support available from large licensees and of meeting onerous compliance obligations, new entrants to the profession are usually best advised to begin by acting as an authorised representative. Even large, successful practices often do not find the move to holding a licence justifiable.

Competency

A person is competent if they have either;

• completed a course (or courses) that is listed on ASIC’s training register(see:  http://www.asic.gov.au) or
• been assessed as being competent by an authorised assessor. This second option is only available to people with relevant industry experience.

Note that there are no other options. One consequence is that a person who has relevant industry experience and who has completed training that is not listed on ASIC’s register can opt for assessment and have that training taken into account. A person who does not have industry experience, however, has no option other than to complete courses that are listed on the register, regardless of what other qualifications they may hold.

The courses or assessments which are completed must cover;

• generic knowledge of financial markets and products, and
• specialist knowledge and advisory skills for each of the particular areas (“Content Areas”) in which advice will be provided, such as:
  • Financial planning
  • Securities
  • Managed investments
  • Superannuation
  • Insurance—general and  life

A financial planner will need to complete a course (or courses) which covers all of these areas, while an insurance adviser, for example, will only need to complete a course (or courses) which covers generic knowledge and insurance.

Financial planners who advise in other specialist areas, such as derivatives or foreign exchange, will need to complete courses covering those areas as well.

Some areas, notably direct property, which is covered by State licensing laws, are not covered by RG146. Nevertheless, advice on property based securities such as REITs is caught, as is advice against securities/superannuation etc in favour of property. The production of financial plans that range more broadly than advice that is strictly limited to property also requires authority under an AFS licence and compliance with RG146.

Course standards

In order to be listed on ASIC’s register, courses must be at or beyond the standard required for a Diploma. A Diploma qualification is equivalent to 1/3 of a three year bachelor’s degree; that is, it is equivalent to one year of full time study at a university or TAFE.

BE VERY WARY OF COURSES THAT OFFER UNREALISTICALLY SHORT TIMEFRAMES, EVEN IF THEY APPEAR ON ASIC’S REGISTER. It is not possible to complete a third of a bachelor’s degree in 14 days.

Completion of courses or collections of courses that are listed may entitle the student to a qualification such as the Diploma of Financial Services (Financial Planning) {DFS (FP)} or, in the case of courses listed by universities, degrees.

Note that completion of a Diploma of Financial Services (Financial Planning) or a university degree does not automatically mean that the training requirements have been met. To be effective, the course must;

a.    be listed on ASIC’s register, and

b.     cover each of the Content Areas required. Details of the Content Areas covered are published on the training register by ASIC for each course listed.

Continuing education

When practicing as a financial planner, continuing education will be required by

a.    the law, which requires that individual training plans are prepared by the licensee, and records of training are kept, so that the competency of  each advisor is maintained, updated and developed, and

b.    the AFS licensee and any professional associations, such as the Financial Planning Association of Australia (FPAA), that are joined. These will have explicit rules about the continuing training that they require.

Further study

A popular next step from the entry level Diploma training is to complete the Advanced Diploma of Financial Services (Financial Planning) {ADFS(FP)}. Beyond this, many advisers undertake a Master’s program, complete the FPA’s Certified Financial Planner (CFP) program or undertake specialist study in areas such as self managed superannuation.

CFP

Full details of the FPA’s Certified Financial Planner (CFP) program can be found under the “Education and CPD” tab at www.fpa.asn.au, and this short summary does not pretend to provide all details.
The program comprises 4 units of study and a 5th assessment unit.

1. To commence the first 4 units of the program, a person needs:
   • 1 year’s relevant experience {usually means as an Authorised Representative (AR)},
   • to be a member of the FPA, and
   • to have a finance related degree or an Advanced Diploma (Financial Planning).
2. To enrol in the 5th unit a person needs, in addition:
   • an extra years’ (ie a total of 2 years’) experience.
3. After the study program is successfully completed, to be accepted as a CFP a person needs:
   • yet another year’s (ie total 3 years’) experience.
   • to sign on to a Code of Ethics.
   • an approved finance degree, or alternatively, any degree plus an ADFS(FP).

This means, regarding the education requirements, that:

1. the holder of an ADFS(FP) with no degree can enter and complete the CFP program. They will not be granted CFP status, however, unless at some point they complete a degree of any kind,
2. the holder of a degree that is not finance related will have to complete an ADFS(FP) to start the CFP program. On completion, they will be able to apply for CFP status, and
3. the holder of an approved, finance related degree can go straight into the program and ultimately apply for CFP status. They will not need an ADFS(FP).

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AMP, in conjunction with the Australian and New Zealand Institute of Insurance and Finance (The Institute), has developed the Certificate IV in Life Insurance training program.

The program is designed to increase knowledge and skills of AMP staff working in life insurance, with a particular focus on boosting claims and underwriting proficiencies.

AMP Director Product Manufacturing Paul Sainsbury said the program is tailor-made to the life insurance industry by factoring into learning modules products, processes and distribution which will enhance the professionalism of candidates who undertake the program.

“The expertise gained from completing the qualification will allow our staff to deliver an even greater level of service to our customers and planners,” Mr Sainsbury said.

“This program is the latest in a range of initiatives aimed at making AMP easier for customers and planners to do business with and to ensure more people obtain the insurance they need,” Mr Sainsbury said.

All those completing the program will achieve a Certificate IV in Financial Services – Life Insurance, an accreditation which provides entry to complete a Diploma in Financial Services. Participants will also be able to become an Associate CIP of The Institute.

The Institute’s General Manager of Client Solutions Mark James said by offering specialist training such as the Certificate IV in Life Insurance, AMP is boosting the professionalism of the industry.

“High quality training is crucial and our research suggests that 95 per cent of staff will remain at a company that is actively investing in their professional development,” Mr James said.

The program features four self-paced modules and several competency assessments and has an anticipated completion time of between 12 to 36 months.

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