Asia’s rising star

With recent significant changes such as Consumer Duty, Abolition of Lifetime Allowance and Thematic Reviews (to name but a few), firms are increasingly asking how to ensure their advisers’ knowledge remains current, test their understanding in a ‘real life’ environment, identify risk at an individual and corporate level, and demonstrate all of this in a manner that meets with regulatory requirements.

A big ask! So how can you ensure you meet all these objectives, and what support is out there to assist you in achieving this?

At Competent Adviser we are passionate about taking the strain out of finding relevant, comprehensive, high quality CPD material that is constantly updated, engaging, enables the adviser to demonstrate their ability to put theory into practice, and, of course, provides the regulatory audit trail to demonstrate their competency.

In recent years, there has been a significant shift away from the traditional standard multiple- choice testing of knowledge, with more emphasis now placed on a more holistic approach.

This has led us to launch easily digestible monthly updates, which focus on recent industry developments. We’ve also developed a comprehensive library of case study style personal development programmes (PDPs), each designed to demonstrate both an understanding of the product/ concept plus the ability to present this to a client in a ‘real life’ style scenario. Additionally, we’ve included videos and e-learning to further engage advisers and help information ‘stick’.

We have also seen a recent move away from the use of overall end result pass marks to demonstrate competency, resulting in some cases in the removal altogether of the words ‘pass’ and ‘fail’. Instead, clients are more focused on identifying individual adviser’s knowledge gaps and providing relevant training to bridge these gaps.

To facilitate this we have enhanced our functionality to allow for a 0% pass rate, with the focus on identifying areas/sections within the assessment where the adviser has encountered difficulties.

From an adviser perspective, this sees the automatic creation on their Home Page of their very own CPD programme, directing them towards the learning and testing they require to improve their knowledge and demonstrate competency.

Whilst, as mentioned above, some firms do not require a pass rate for the overall test, as can be seen by the screenshot on the following page, nearly all firms have requested a pass rate for the follow up knowledge gap assessments.

Identification of individual adviser knowledge gaps with links to remedial reading and retests

From the firm’s perspective, there is a growing need for comprehensive MI as regulatory requirements become more sophisticated and firms are seeking to identify risk at the earliest opportunity.

Once again, we have risen to this challenge by developing reporting functionality that aggregates information from advisers’ home pages and displays this at corporate/team/individual level - enabling instant identification of actual areas of knowledge weakness, with drill down links to those advisers requiring support in these areas.

Interestingly, perception as to what is likely to be an adviser’s weakest area often vastly differs from reality.

A firm recently approached us stating that they felt the biggest area of need amongst the majority of their adviser community was an understanding of trusts. This belief stemmed from a survey their advisers had completed, identifying areas of advice they felt less confident in. However, when their advisers completed an assessment on our system designed to identify weaknesses across all areas of advice, trusts ranked eleventh, with pensions taking the top six positions.

This invaluable MI enabled the firm in question to implement training and support, specifically targeted to the different areas of need of each adviser.

"...there is a growing need for comprehensive MI as regulatory requirements become more sophisticated and firms are seeking to identify risk at the earliest opportunity."

Example Knowledge Gap Sections Report – with areas of highest need at top

The move towards case study style learning mentioned earlier, particularly when combined with video style training, has transformed the way in which advisers can upskill themselves on even the most complex topic.

This was evident when we recently launched our Lifetime Allowance Update CPD programme, aimed at empowering advisers to deepen their understanding and demonstrate their competency on this significant change.

Advisers informed us that the combination of video-style learning, followed by the opportunity to apply the theory learned through life-like case studies made them feel equipped with the skills and expertise to discuss this area with clients. They also felt confident in their ability to answer any questions that may arise. This represents CPD at its very best.

We began this article by addressing the most frequently asked question: how can a firm ensure their advisers’ knowledge remains current, test their understanding in a ‘real life’ environment, identify risk at an individual and corporate level and demonstrate all of this in a manner that meets with regulatory requirements? Hopefully, this article has highlighted that the support needed to achieve each of these objectives is readily available, with the good news being that advisers are finding this new, highly interactive approach to CPD engaging and worthwhile. And that has to be a good result for all of us.

About Competent Adviser:

With a client ethos of “the answer is yes, now tell me the question” and over 20 years’ experience as one of the UK’s fastest-growing, award-winning, competency testing and learning management systems, we have developed a range of client-driven, innovative tools designed to assist you in assessing and maintaining the competency of your advisers and staff. Combined with our unique reporting functionality, these tools provide you with the evidence required to demonstrate compliance with this all-important regulatory requirement.

Thousands of users from prominent UK financial organisations trust our platform to support their compliance and development needs. It allows them to efficiently manage their T&C processes in a cost-effective, manner, whilst demonstrating competency on an on-going fully compliant basis.

Whether you are looking for a one-off competency assessment facility, an on-going fully functional CPD solution or anything in between, our award-winning system offers the flexibility to match your needs.

Get in touch

enquiries@competentadviser.com
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