CFP® professionals and QAFP® professionals have an obligation to ensure their knowledge and competence in their field remains current.

To renew certification, CFP professionals must complete 25 hours of Continuing Education (CE) annually and QAFP professionals must complete 12 hours of CE activities annually. By becoming a provider of FP Canada-approved CE activities, your programs will be promoted to approximately 18,000 financial planners certified by FP Canada™ who collectively must complete more than 400,000 CE credits each year.

FP Canada-approved CE activities

FP Canada-approved CE activities have been reviewed to ensure they meet FP Canada’s CE requirements. They are the CE activities of choice for CFP professionals and QAFP professionals, providing assurance that they will count toward their annual requirement to maintain certification. Providers of FP Canada-Approved CE activities receive many benefits including:

  • inclusion in the FP Canada Continuing Education Search Tool, which is the primary tool used by CFP professionals and QAFP professionals to find CE activities
  • promotion of CE activities by FP Canada to approximately 18,000 professional financial planners through a variety of promotional materials, e-newsletters and other communications
  • use of the FP Canada-approved CE logo to advertise CE activities as meeting FP Canada’s requirements

FP Canada approved by MFDA as third party accreditor for CE

FP Canada has been approved by the Mutual Fund Dealers Association of Canada (MFDA) as a Third Party Accreditor for Continuing Education (CE). As a Third Party Accreditor, FP Canada is recognized by the MFDA to perform assessments of CE activity against standards established by the MFDA. This important recognition from the MFDA recognizes the merits of the longstanding FP Canada CE Approval Program.

New CE requirements for all MFDA Approved Persons came into effect on December 1, 2021. Each CE activity must be accredited by Accreditors recognized by the MFDA in order to count towards the fulfilment of the new CE requirements.

FP Canada completed a rigorous application process to earn approval as a Third Party Accreditor. To be approved by the MFDA, Third Party Accreditors must prove that they have at least five years’ experience in acting as a non-profit professional body which administers established proficiency requirements for a certification or designation related to the securities industry, have a code of ethics, and have an enforcement regime which includes a formal, transparent disciplinary process. Applicants must also provide a detailed outline of their CE accreditation policies and procedures, and demonstrate how those processes align with the MFDA’s accreditation requirements.

What this means for you

Given that more than 40% of FP Canada financial planners certified by FP Canada are also MFDA licensed, the opportunity to have programs accredited both for FP Canada CE requirements and MFDA CE requirements is beneficial for both CE providers and professional financial planners.

Organizations that submit courses as part of the FP Canada CE Approval Program have the opportunity to have those courses reviewed for accreditation by the MFDA. Providers must then register the program separately with the MFDA, and a fee will be required by the MFDA.

CE categories

There are four categories of FP Canada-approved CE activities. If you offer CE in any of the following areas, don’t miss the opportunity to submit your CE activities for FP Canada-approval.

Qualifying CE must relate to one or more aspects of the FP Canada Standards Council Competency Profiles. CE in this category may relate to one or more of the financial planning areas, professional skills or technical knowledge.

The Professional Responsibility requirement is designed to support and enhance your understanding of your professional duties and to provide approaches for identifying and addressing common ethical dilemmas and challenges that you may face.

Qualifying CE requires practical application of the principles and rules in the FP Canada Standards Council Standards of Professional Responsibility to ethical dilemmas that financial planners commonly encounter.

CE should include the use of scenarios and/or practical examples to illustrate the situations. CE activities that focus on direct knowledge or rote recall of the Standards of Professional Responsibility without demonstrated understanding and application will not qualify.

Qualifying CE includes the knowledge and skills used in building professional relationships and growing a professional practice. CE in this category may include activities focused on prospecting, business planning, business development, networking or sales skills.

Qualifying CE includes the product knowledge that planners may use to advise on and sell products or comment on products held by their clients. CE in this category may be focused on any financial planning product, including investment, insurance or debt.

Ideally, CE should present a balanced view of the product that includes features and benefits as well as client suitability, risks and costs. The content of CE should help you make product recommendations based on the fit of the product with your client’s situation rather than on the product’s returns.

 

Submit your CE activities to the FP Canada CE approval program

Create an FP Canada account to submit your CE activities to the FP Canada CE Approval Program for assessment. Through the FP Canada Portal, you can:

  • easily and conveniently submit CE activities through our online application;
  • track the status of your CE activities;
  • modify CE activity details;
  • view your payment history; and
  • edit your organization’s information.
Submit your CE activities
 

“Continuing Education is a mainstay of the profession, assuring clients that they are dealing with individuals dedicated to continual self-improvement. With FP Canada-Approved CE, a CFP professional or QAFP professional can budget not only their monetary resources, but more importantly the precious resource of their time. The program gives busy individuals the peace of mind of unambiguously determining the value associated with their CE efforts in advance.”

Terry McCullough
CFP professional and Professor of Financial Planning and Investment Courses, George Brown College, Toronto