With only 12 weeks until the current CPD cycle ends on 31 May, time is ticking for those who need to fulfil their required CPD hours.
In terms of the Fit and Proper Requirements (Board Notice 194 of 2017), CPD for regulatory purposes was officially implemented as a requirement. This means advisers must perform CPD activities towards regulatory requirements during a CPD cycle, which is 12 months starting on 1 June of every year and ending on 31 May of the following year. The end of the cycle is therefore fast approaching.
Moonstone Business School of Excellence (MBSE) is a recognised CPD provider and offers programmes – including online courses, events, and publications – to assist FSPs, key individuals, and representatives in gaining the relevant CPD hours.
Monique Brummer, the operations manager at MBSE, wants to ensure that financial services providers, key individuals, and representatives are aware of the support available. If they are running short on CPD hours, Brummer highlights that MBSE’s online learning platform offers a wide range of CPD courses, including legislative short courses, to help them meet their requirements.
“MBSE’s legislative short courses on POPIA and FICA also have CPD points so they can meet multiple requirements with these.”
Students at MBSE gain instant access to courses upon payment (by credit card). This means they can begin tackling their required CPD hours for the May deadline right away, offering flexibility and convenience to meet their educational needs.
Who is liable?
An FSP, key individual and representative must maintain the required competence to render the financial services for which it is authorised. To do this, it must comply with the minimum CPD requirements set out below.
The number of CPD hours required is determined by the make-up of the business.
In terms of Board Notice 194, where employees render:
- a single subclass of business within a single class of business, they must complete a minimum of 6 hours of CPD activities per CPD cycle;
- more than one subclass of business within a single class of business, they must complete a minimum of 12 hours of CPD activities per CPD cycle; and
- more than one class of business they must complete a minimum of 18 hours of CPD activities per CPD cycle.
Identified learning objectives
Priced from R57, MBSE’s CPD courses are categorised to make it easier to choose the required activities. These categories include Regulatory Environment, Ethics, Technical and Business Skills.
The features of the courses include:
- Flexible e-learning that can be completed anywhere, anytime on a computer, tablet or smartphone;
- access to user-friendly, printable training material that is broken up into smaller units, supplemented with relevant multimedia content;
- access to MBSE’s helpdesk – all queries are answered within three business days; and
- regular self-assessment to monitor progress.
Students can access and print their certificate once they have completed all the course activities and passed (at least 60%) the assessments.
CPD subscription packages
MBSE also provides CPD subscription packages, particularly the Premium package, which are ideal for corporate FSPs that want to ensure their key individuals and representatives comply with the required CPD hours.
From an administrative point of view, MBSE offers the option of multiple bookings via a bulk registration process. This gives an FSP the freedom to register students monthly. (Terms and conditions, together with the signed service level agreement, apply.)
The manager’s dashboard allows the following:
- send coupons to candidates to activate their subscription;
- view candidates’ progress at any time;
- view and download reports;
- view and download candidates’ certificates; and
- create a corporate CPD/Class of Business planner.
Click here to choose a package that suits your needs.
Stay up to date
Brummer points out that a significant portion of the market doesn’t have to comply to CPD requirements; they’re exempt under BN 194.
Employees who are specifically excluded from CPD training include:
- A Category I FSP, its key individuals and representatives authorised who only render financial services in respect of the financial products: Long-term Insurance subcategory A and/or Friendly Society Benefits; and
- a representative of a Category I FSP that is appointed to only render a financial service in respect of a Tier 2 financial product; and/or render an intermediary service in respect of a Tier 1 financial product.
“But our CPD courses are also a significant value-add for those reps. Staying ‘current’ with industry changes should be a priority for everyone, even if they do not have the imposed’ requirement,” says Brummer.
Contact help@mbse.ac.za for support with Corporate packages.
