Clarifying the role of the
Statement of Professional Standing (SPS)
The FSA has confirmed that retail investment advisers will need to hold a statement of professional standing if they want to give independent or restricted advice from January 2013.
In its final rules on professionalism, the FSA/FCA says the statement will provide customers with evidence that the adviser subscribes to a code of ethics, is qualified and has kept their knowledge up to date.
The SPS will be issued by FSA/FCA accredited bodies which satisfy certain criteria, including that they:
- act in the public interest and further the development of the profession
- carry out effective verification services
- have appropriate systems and controls in place and provide evidence of continuing effectiveness and cooperate with the FSA on an ongoing basis
Requirements
The policy paper also sets out a requirement for investment advisers to complete at least 35 hours of continuing professional development (CPD) each year, at least 21 hours of which must be structured.
This could involve courses, lectures, seminars or workshops. All CPD has to focus on demonstrable change to improve advisers’ skills and knowledge. FSA research shows that over 70 per cent of advisers are already achieving this amount of CPD.
Our SPS training
We hope to offer the majority of training by way of webinar technology, with live streaming on a monthly basis, and pre-recorded training events built as an indexed library for all registered advisers to use. In addition, we aim to provide a minimum of 4 months training each year, through face to face workshops, in up to 6 locations across the UK. These will be 6 hour training events, and we propose to deliver a minimum of 72 hours of training per year which will be structured and relevant to the advisers that are registered members.