As we reach the end of the year is surprises me that I am still receiving calls from financial advisers who are going to be debarred in January due to their DOFA date with the FSB and want to know what I can do to help them.
The required qualification is a National Certificate in Wealth management which usually requires 12 months of study to complete. This can be reduced due to prior experience and existing knowledge and we offer 4 options to complete the the qualification through RSC:
- Brand new entrants to the industry will need 12 months to complete a class room based program OR:
- They could complete a self study program which will take 12 to 18 months
- Learners who have been in the industry for 2 to 5 years and have developed knowledge through prior experience can complete the self study process in a much shorter time as they have less to study, read and research due to the existing experience. This can be completed in 3 to 6 months.
- Learners who are highly experienced in a broad range of financial advice, and have developed a high level of knowledge and skills, have been in the industry as financial advisers for 5 years or more, can complete the qualification with us using an assessment process. In this process we will only provide study material to fill any gaps in the learners existing knowledge. This can easily be completed in 3 months.
So we can help choose the best method we always conduct a pre assessment and evaluation of your existing knowledge and skills during which we also check your existing INSETA credits which may be used in this assessment process. Existing, relevant credits from this qualification, will greatly reduce the time required to complete the assessment process. It will also reduce the cost.
Once completed the portfolios need to be assessed, ,moderated, audited, verified by INSETA and the credits uploaded by RSC, audited by INSETA and then your credits are released as achieved. This can add a 2 to 3 month time onto the process depending on when you complete the process and when the next INSETA verification in planned.
The fact that we have assessed and found you have completed the qualification only becomes official credits, that will be accepted by the FSB and most compliance officers once they have been verified by INSETA and uploaded onto the INSETA system/ NLRD.
This means a new entrant to the industry starting now would be able to be verified at the end of 2017, but this would only be possible if they handed and completed the assessments by the end of September 2017. If they miss this deadline they would only be included in the June 2018 verification, if they completed the process by the end of April.
Learners with high levels of skill and 5 years + experience starting now should easily be able to complete the assessment process by the end of February or March 2017. As long as they complete before the end of April 2017 they would be included in the planned verification June 2017.
So the sad fact is a representative who has been in the industry for 6 years and is due to be debarred in January 2017 due to their DOFA date, will never complete this process of assessment, moderation, verification and upload onto the NLRD by January 2017, and is going to be debarred.
The only option they have is to enroll for a program try to complete it as quickly as possibly and to apply to the FSB for an extension to allow them to work until they complete the program and become fit and proper. There is a cost for this charged by the FSB and their is no guarantee they will approve it. If you have not enrolled and are on track to complete with in a reasonable time frame they will not approve an extention.
If you need more informaiton on an extension speak to your compliance officer or contact the FSB at the following link for more information in the competency requirements:
https://www.fsb.co.za/Departments/fais/Pages/Competency-Requirements.aspx
Contact us if you want more information on the programs we offer to help you achieve your qualification requirements, and please do not leave it to the last minute when it is impossible for us to assist you.
Learner who start with RSC this year complete the qualification for the June or November verifications in 2017 will be invoiced at this years prices and will avoid the increase in January 2017.
contact us a info@rscnetwork.co.za if you want to start the process and we will mail you the pre assessment and evaluation.