Simply put, Professional Development is a regulatory requirement to improve professional competence and therefore the outcomes of our clients. The FMA has made it clear that they expect the standards of professional advisers to continue to lift over the coming years.

All of this is set out in Code Standard 9 which reads

This applies to financial advisers and nominated representatives alike, and to the licensed entity (FAP. It is therefore important that the FAP can demonstrate how it ensures that everyone providing advice under its license is able to demonstrate their competency. The best way is for the FAP and the adviser or nominated rep to have an agreed professional development plan in place that meets the requirements in Code Standard 9.

There are many ways to demonstrate that you are meeting these obligations. However, having a system that allows you to both map out the upcoming year’s planned professional development, and record additional training and learning that occurs during the year is ideal. With a plan in place and a system that allows the FAP to review and ensure it is being followed, both the advisers and the FAP can be confident that they are meeting the regulatory requirements.

Dacreed now has the leading professional development planning solution for financial advisers in New Zealand with a range of Professional development content from PTE’s, industry subject matter experts, and financial institutions. With the content available, or simply by adding additional third party courses or events to the PDP manually, the Dacreed platform is the easiest way for FAPs to build a PDP with their staff that combines their internal policies and training with external content to form a comprehensive professional development plan.

If you would like to know more, click here to set up a meeting with one of the team.