What Is Continuing Education?
Continuing Education (CE) is learning, education and/or training that enhances an advisor’s ability to perform his or her job competently and ethically.
Your Career Requires CE Compliance
The Canadian Financial Services industry is divided into two main parts; licenses and designations.
Licenses
These allow an individual to earn a contract with a company in order to sell their products as a representative.
Designations
These allow an individual to provide specialized advice.
There are variations with respect to licensing within the Canadian financial services industry:
- eleven provincially regulated life licenses
- Two nationally regulated mutual fund licenses
- 23 nationally regulated professional designations
For the financial advisor, there is no standard combination of licences and designations. Advisors can choose which province to earn their life license in; which mutual fund license to hold and which Professional Designation will provide specialized advice to their clients.
The issue is that each of the Governing Bodies that oversees licenses and designations has its own set of CE requirements that their advisors must comply with in order to renew for the next cycle.
BMG – Working Towards Approved Courses
Programs approved by The Institute’s CE Accreditation Service provides an impartial third-party review and approval process for CE programs developed for financial advisors and planners. CE programs are accredited when they have:
- Met a clear standard of educational quality
- Been reviewed against practice guidelines
- Been shown to be relevant to today’s financial advisors and planners
Decision Reports
After reviews are complete, decision reports are issued to education providers detailing the specific competencies that have been confirmed. The report assures education providers that Institute-accredited CE will have iron-clad defensibility in the eyes of regulators and designation-granting bodies. Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba and Quebec have specific CE requirements for those individuals licensed to sell insurance within their jurisdictions. It is the responsibility of those licensed in those provinces to ensure that any completed CE meets their requirements.
Benefits
- Helping financial advisors and planners document how they have met their CE requirements
- Helping education providers by providing an impartial third-party review and report
- Helping regulators and designation granting bodies have confidence in the quality of accredited CE programs.
FAQs
What does accredited CE do for advisors?
Institute-accredited CE offers near universal assurance that CE will be accepted by many organizations, regulators and licensing bodies in the financial services industry. Accredited CE programs are objective and substance-based; they enhance professionalism and help advisors remain compliant in an ever-changing industry.
How is accredited CE audited?
Any CE that has been accredited by The Institute’s CE Accreditation Services is audit-proof. Accredited CE programs are automatically recorded on the member profile of any individual who has obtained Institute-accredited CE. Only non-accredited CE credits will be audited in the event that a member has not already provided verification of these credits.
How can I track my CE online?
To record your CE credits directly with Advocis and The Institute, you can login to your account here.
If you need assistance with your login, please contact the Advocis Member Services department by email at info@advocis.ca or call 1-877-773-6765.
Institute designees are encouraged to record their CE activities throughout the year in order to prevent an audit situation. Designees who have not recorded the full CE requirement could be randomly selected to participate in the annual CE audit and be required to submit written proof of CE activity to The Institute.
The Institute provides CE activity tracking services wherein designees submit supporting documentation and record their attendance of continuing education they have attained.
Institute-accredited CE programs are automatically recorded on the member profile of any individual who has obtained Institute-accredited CE delivered by Advocis.
The Institute tracks all proof of CE activity reported to Advocis and The Institute. Only non-accredited CE credits will be audited in the event that a member has not already provided verification of these credits. At any time, members can obtain a printed listing of all CE activity reported to Advocis. This service is available only to Advocis members and Institute designation holders in good standing.
What happens if I lose/delete my CE Certificate?
Simply contact us via email at: cecredits@bmg-group.com and we will be happy to email you a replacement Certificate of Completion for your files. Please provide us with your name, and the course/courses you took. We do archive all CE certificates we issue for this exact reason.
Are the CE Credits I earn valid for all my licenses and and designations?
The simplest answer is “Most of the time.” We ensure that every presentation is accredited before it is uploaded. This allows us to provide verifiable CE credits. Many of the governing bodies across Canada will accept these CE credits. However, advisors are responsible for ensuring that CE credits are applicable to the individual regulatory, licensing, designation, and professional bodies under which they are governed. Should the CE applicability of this Institute-accredited course be questioned in an audit situation, please contact us at cecredits@bmg-group.com for assistance.
CE Credits Currently Available