The organization says it is part of its initiative to maintain high standards in the investment industry
The Investment Industry Regulatory Organization of Canada (IIROC) is to take the accreditation of Continuing Education (CE) courses in-house as part of a wider initiative to maintain high standards in the investment industry.
Earlier this year IIROC set out four key themes in its three-year strategy, which included advancing initiatives for investor protection and supporting industry transformation.
Currently, accreditation is managed by the Continuing Education Course Accreditation Process Centre, and this will continue to be the case until the end of 2021.
The regulator says that it has calculated that it can provide accreditation to dealer members at cost. The new service will begin on January 1, 2022.
“Directly providing CE accreditation services will enhance service, quality control and transparency while offering a lower fee,” said Elsa Renzella, IIROC’s Senior Vice-President, Enforcement, Registration and Enterprise Risk. “IIROC reviewed best practices across several regulated sectors and found that regulators and professional standards bodies commonly perform continuing education course accreditation in-house using methods that suit their membership.”
No changes to the IIROC Rules regarding Continuing Education have been proposed at this time.
IIROC dealer members and external course providers can submit their courses for accreditation under the new in-house system from January 2022.
Room to grow
Continuing to update knowledge and skills is an important part of being a successful investment professional, especially with several emerging trends in the industry.
A recent report from the Canadian ETF Association (CEFTA) said that there is room for more education in the ETF space.
CEFTA has expanded its education provision since the start of the pandemic and its survey found that advisors are keen to know more about exchange-traded funds.
“We wanted to find out what they were looking for and what we could offer them that would help them sell more, and a lot of it comes down to education,” she says. “They want more information in a form they can use with their clients, which is great, because that’s what we can do.”
