Continuing Professional Development Policy
Obligation
Self Funded Retirement Planners Pty Ltd supports its advisers who are ‘relevant providers’ in meeting the requirements for Continuing Professional Development (CPD) set out in the Corporations Act and established by the Standards body ‘FASEA’. Under the FASEA Code of Ethics, relevant providers must
‘develop, maintain and apply a high level of relevant knowledge and skills’. Advisers of Self Funded Retirement Planners Pty Ltd who are relevant providers are required to develop and maintain an ongoing CPD Plan and complete a set minimum of CPD hours per CPD year.
Definition of a Relevant Provider
The term relevant provider is used to describe those individuals who have CPD obligations in relation to the creation and implementation of a CPD plan.
A person is a relevant provider if the person is an individual and is:
a financial services Licensee; or
an Authorised Representative of a financial services Licensee; or
an employee or director of a financial services Licensee; or
an employee or director of a related body corporate or a financial services Licensee; and
is authorised to provide personal advice to retail clients, as the Licensee or on behalf of the Licensee, in relation to relevant financial products.
Relevant financial products are those other than basic banking products, general insurance products, consumer credit products or a combination of any of these products.
CPD Requirements – Industry Guidelines
Advisers who are relevant providers are required to complete 40 hours of CPD each CPD year of which 70% will need to be approved by the Licensee. A set minimum number of these hours must be dedicated to technical competence, client care, compliance and ethics, as follows.
Prescribed Minimum CPD Hours by Category
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Technical competence: acting as a technically proficient professional 5 hoursÖ
Client care and practice: acting as a client centric practitioner 5 hoursÖ
Regulatory compliance and consumer protection: acting as a legally compliantpractitioner 5 hours
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Professionalism and Ethics: acting as an ethical professional 9 hours
The balance will be achieved through qualifying CPD. An hours‐based system of CPD calculation is used to allow for a wide variety of types of education to be undertaken within these requirements.
Types of Qualifying CPD
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Non‐formal Education
Technical competency of industry specialisation toward:
meeting a relevant professional designation
⎯CFP, FCHFP, etc
meeting requirements in specific financial advice provisions ⎯stockbroking, SMSF, Aged Care etc
accreditation in specific forms of financial products relevant to licensing arrangements
⎯credit
Balance of hours to meet 40 hour minimum
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Licensee Approved CPD
Conferences, PD Days, Update Sessions, relevant to financial advice
Professional or technical reading (up to 4 hours)
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Formal Study degree equivalent study to meet legislative requirements (such as bridging courses and approved degree studies)
formal study towards other qualifications and designations relevant to the practice of the Relevant Provider
30 hours formal study can be counted toward total CPD
CPD hours for any type of CPD activity will be able to count across multiple CPD areas provided there is no double counting of hours. For example, attending a class or seminar on ethics in financial planning can count towards the nine hours required for Professionalism and Ethics: acting as an ethical professional, or it could count as formal study, but not both.
Licensee Requirements
Self Funded Retirement Planners Pty Ltd has the appropriate measures in place to ensure that their relevant providers’ knowledge and skills are up to date and that advisers undertake at least 40 hours of CPD activity each CPD year appropriate to the professional services they provide. The Self Funded Retirement Planners Pty Ltd CPD year is from 01 July through 30 June.
Self Funded Retirement Planners Pty Ltd has a formal process for approving the CPD activities and the appropriate number of hours for its relevant providers. This process includes review of all relevant adviser CPD Plans by Garth Lovelace & Dean Sampson at the start of each CPD year.
Approval of CPD hours by Self Funded Retirement Planners Pty Ltd will include:
the level of expertise and verification of appropriate accredited standing, expertise, academic qualifications and practical expertise of the CPD provider;
the expertise of facilitators and/or those delivering the CPD;
the level of learning undertaken / learning outcomes; and
verification that learning outcomes have been achieved.
Self Funded Retirement Planners Pty Ltd further ensures compliance with this CPD Policy through:
periodic collection of CPD records from relevant providers;
sighting evidence of completed training; and
reconciling training records received against CPD Plans to ensure training requirements are being met ongoing
Maintaining records of all CPD undertaken by its relevant providers for 7 years, under general record keeping guidelines for Licensees.
Self Funded Retirement Planners Pty Ltd CPD policy is provided to all relevant providers by distribution.
Adviser Requirements
All relevant providers of Self Funded Retirement Planners Pty Ltd are required to undertake the following:
CPD Plan
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Develop a complying CPD Plan, comprising:
⎯ Qualifying CPD – formal and/or non‐
formal education
⎯ Licensee approved CPD
⎯ Prescribed CPD minimum requirements – technical, client care, compliance, professional and ethics
The CPD plan must be tailored to the needs of the relevant provider including specialty and/or technical areas and address areas for improvement in competence, knowledge and skills and the professional development proposed for making those improvements.
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Seek Licensee approval for at least 70% of theproposed CPD activities to be undertaken
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Maintain the CPD Plan on a continuing basisCPD Activities
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Complete at least 40 hours of CPD each CPD YearCPD Year set by the Licensee.
CPD Records
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Maintain records of CPD activities undertakenFASEA encourages a digital solution that can track CPD activities, evidence and outcomes, while providing portability and accountability.
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Retain on file evidence of any CPD activity to be relied upon to meet CPD requirementsÖ
Retain CPD records for 7 years from the end of each CPD yearAdvisers must retain all CPD related records including CPD Plans, and CPD undertaken including evidence. This includes records that have been provided to the Licensee.
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Provide CPD records to the LicenseeAdvisers must provide the Licensee with records of CPD undertaken in order for the Licensee to meet their record keeping requirements. This includes all CPD undertaken, and is not limited to those hours requiring Licensee approval.
Additional Considerations
Self Funded Retirement Planners Pty Ltd’s approach to CPD takes into account the needs of all advisers including any advisers new to the industry, on extended leave, working other than full time hours, or moving licensees.
Adviser Career Break Where relevant providers take a career break, Self Funded Retirement Planners Pty Ltd will require them to:
meet the existing adviser education qualification requirements;
be able to return without additional requirements if leave period is less than 2 years; and
for leave periods of 2 years or more, undertake appropriate CPD to ensure they upskill with the latest regulatory and licensee requirements.
Self Funded Retirement Planners Pty Ltd will set the requirements for those returning after a 2 year or more career break to ensure they will upskill with the latest regulatory and licensee requirements as soon as practicable once they return.
Adviser Moving to Another Licensee For an existing relevant provider moving licensees, Self Funded Retirement Planners Pty Ltd may choose to recognise the CPD undertaken with a previous licensee when authorising an existing relevant provider.
Newly Hired Adviser For relevant providers who have recently completed their Professional Year, given the extent of training undertaken during the Professional Year, the licensee may choose to pro‐rata the CPD hours for the period between completion of the Professional Year and the end of the licensees CPD year.
Part Time Adviser In special circumstances if the relevant provider is working part‐time for the whole of the CPD year, with the prior written consent of the licensee, they must complete at least 36 hours of CPD activity in each CPD Year.
Resources:
FASEA FPS004 Continuing Professional Development Policy
