There has been debate on the value of continuing professional development for experienced advisers, particularly those who work in insurance.
Authorised financial advisers are bound by the Code of Professional Conduct to complete 30 hours’ CPD over two years. But RFAs are only required to be competent to do their job.
It has been suggested the Financial Advisers Act review may increase what is required of RFAs to that AFA level.
Risk adviser Graeme Lindsay said it was hard for those who had been in the industry a long time to find worthwhile training. “[A push for] 20 or 30 hours of CPD is only there to put money into the pockets of the providers of CPD. I don’t believe it’s adding a lot of value for advisers.”
Many advisers agreed. Alison Renfrew said: “It is very difficult for an experienced adviser like Graeme Lindsay to find suitable courses for which he could earn CPDs. They are out there but too basic for him. He could do these courses but he wouldn't be learning. He would only be taking them to 'play the game' which is dishonest isn't it?”
David Whyte, former general manager of AIA in New Zealand, said there was nowhere for risk advisers to get good, unbiased, uncommercial, generic information that would qualify as CPD if they were experienced. “The application of product is a constant. The whole CPD regime was developed with investment advisers in mind, not risk.”
Any review of the FAA should recognise the difference between the types of advisers and consider whether an annual CPD approach was the right way to deal with risk advisers, he said. “We need to recognise the differences between the practitioners in the market. We’ve got to be sure there’s recognition of the differential practices that occur otherwise if everyone is swept up by the same rules, there will be casualties in a broad-brush approach.”
Experienced AFA investment advisers spoken to by Good Returns said they got their CPD from presentations such as Heathcote Investment Partners’ Meet the Managers roadshows and reading academic articles.
Whyte said there were none of those opportunities for risk advisers. “There’s little advantage in a risk adviser becoming an expert in insurance company processing because it doesn’t help the clients at all.”