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CE Requirements
CE Requirements
Maintaining an Advocis membership, life insurance and securities licences, and professional designations often requires financial advisors and planners to meet specified professional development requirements, most of which include a prescribed number of Continuing Education (CE) hours per reporting period. This ongoing commitment to continuous learning ensures that your scope of knowledge and competence remain current.
Find out more about the specific CE requirements for:
Advocis Membership
Designation Programs
Continuing Education (CE) Accreditation
Advocis Membership
The Advocis professional development requirements for all members (excluding student and retired members), are required to engage in professional development according to the guidelines below. 30 hours of professional development are required.
Professional development includes both structured and informal learning activities:
Continuing Education (CE)
A minimum of 15 hours of structured learning activity in the form of CE programs. Examples that qualify include:
- CE programs accredited by The Institute’s Accreditation Service, which confirms content as meeting the Practice Guidelines for Financial Advisors & Planners. One CE credit equals one hour of structured learning activity; and
- Successful completion of certain licensing and designation program courses that have been approved by the individual member’s respective designation or governing body. Qualifying examples include LLQP, Mutual Funds Course, CFP, CLU and the CHS.
Informal Learning Activities
A maximum of 15 hours of informal activity determined by the member as contributing to his or her ongoing professional development such as:
- Teaching/presenting
- Research/writing articles
- Self-study
- Participation on industry task forces/committees
Designation Programs
Professional Financial Advisor (PFA™)
Holders of the PFA designation must meet annual CE requirements established by The Institute for Advanced Financial Education™.
PFA designation holders are required to obtain a minimum of 20 continuing education (CE) credits each calendar year, one credit of which must be from a recognized Ethics program. Each hour of CE must be approved by The Institute in order to qualify as a CE credit. Any deficiency in one year must be made up by the end of the next calendar year, in addition to the full year’s CE credits requirement.
Within these 20 credits, a minimum of 10 CE credits must be accredited by The Institute; a maximum of 10 CE credits can be approved by The Institute.
Certified Health Insurance Specialist (CHS™)
Holders of the CHS designation must meet annual CE requirements established by The Institute for Advanced Financial Education™.
CHS designation holders are required to obtain a minimum of 10 continuing education (CE) credits each calendar year, one of which must be from a recognized Ethics program. Each hour of CE must be approved by The Institute in order to qualify as a CE credit. Any deficiency in one year must be made up by the end of the next calendar year, in addition to the full year’s CE credits requirement.
Chartered Life Underwriter (CLU®)
Holders of the CLU designation must meet annual CE requirements established by The Institute for Advanced Financial Education™.
CLU designation holders are required to obtain a minimum of 30 continuing education (CE) credits each calendar year, two credits of which must be from a recognized Ethics program. Any deficiency in one year must be made up by the end of the next calendar year, in addition to the full year’s CE credits requirement. A minimum of 15 CE credits must be accredited by The Institute; A maximum of 15 CE credits can be professional development. General Professional Development CE credits must be industry-related (courses, seminars, etc.), and may be subject to The Institute’s review.
Chartered Financial Consultant (CH.F.C.)
Holders of the CH.F.C. designation must meet annual CE requirements established by The Institute for Advanced Financial Education™.
CH.F.C. designation holders are required to obtain a minimum of 10 continuing education (CE) credits each calendar year. Each hour of CE must be approved by The Institute in order to qualify as a CE credit. Any deficiency in one year must be made up by the end of the next calendar year, in addition to the full year’s CE credits requirement.
Certified Financial Planner (CFP®)
Holders of the CFP® designation must meet annual CE requirements established by Financial Planning Standards Council (FPSC).
For more information, please visit FP Canada.
Continuing Education (CE) Accreditation
Continuing Education (CE) Provider Accreditation
Through The Institute, the CE Accreditation Service provides an impartial third-party review and accreditation process for CE programs developed for financial advisors and planners. All applications for CE credit are evaluated against The Institute’s Practice Guidelines for Financial Advisors and Planners.
The Process
After reviews are complete, decision reports detailing the specific competencies that have been confirmed are issued to education providers. In an audit situation, The Institute’s decision reports offer near-universal acceptance toward meeting CE requirements of regulators and designation-granting bodies. Any questions about the applicability of specific programs should be directed to the respective regulator and/or designation-granting body.
Institute accreditation of a program is valid for two years following the accreditation date.
Click here for more information about the CE Accreditation service.
Provincial Insurance (LLQP) and IIROC
Financial Services Regulatory Authority of Ontario (FSRA)
Insurance Council of British Columbia
Alberta Insurance Council
Insurance Council of Manitoba
Insurance Councils of Saskatchewan
Chambre de la Sécurité Financière (Quebec)
Investment Industry Regulatory Organization of Canada (IIROC)
Mutual Fund Dealers Association of Canada (MFDA)
Financial Services Regulatory Authority of Ontario (FSRA)
CE Period: 24-month period (in accordance with licence renewal date)
Deadline: Commenced upon licensing
Requirement:
30 CE every two-year term. Hours of CE taken beyond the minimum requirement within any period of time may not be used to meet the CE requirement for subsequent periods.
FSRA does not approve, recommend or endorse specific courses, programs or providers. Each agent is required to keep accurate records of courses or programs taken for the current and immediately preceding licensing periods. He or she should obtain, from the course or program provider, a receipt or similar document verifying attendance or completion of a course or program of a specified number of hours.
Records must include the:
- name of the course provider;
- name of the course/program;
- course/program outline;
- date/duration of the course/program;
- final mark achieved in the course/program, if tests were held; and
- number of CE hours being claimed for meeting the CE requirement.
No agent can claim CE credit hours for a course/program that he/she was registered for but did not attend. Hours spent on courses that an agent fails also can not count for credit.
Education must relate to technical aspects of life insurance. Technical for this purpose includes legal, legislative and regulatory matters, fundamentals/principles of life insurance, financial planning, taxation, client needs analysis, proper use of life insurance products, rating/underwriting/claims, accounting and actuarial considerations, risk management principles, and provisions and differences in policy contracts.
Insurance Council of British Columbia
CE Period: Annual
Deadline: May 31
Requirement:
- Life or A&S Insurance Agents: 15 Credits
Reminder – What’s Changed from Previous Requirements:
- Licensees in each class of licence are required to complete the same number of CE credits for that class of licence, regardless of the number of years licensed or additional professional designations
- CE credits cannot be claimed for developing, leading, teaching, or presenting a course or seminar
- If you receive your licence in the three months before the end of the licence period (i.e., between March 1 and May 31), the CE requirements for that first licence period is waived
- You can carry over up to one year’s worth of CE credits to the next licence period
- CE credits for a course can only be used once towards your CE requirements every three licence periods, unless the course content has substantially changed to warrant retaking the course
- There is no maximum amount of course credits that can be claimed, and no daily credit maximum
- Partial credits can be claimed in increments of 15 minutes for courses that are less than one hour in length. A minimum of 15 minutes of instruction time amounts to 0.25 credits
Alberta Insurance Council
CE Period: Annual
Deadline: July 1st to June 30th
Requirement:
15 hours of CE per certificate class. The regulation also provides a mechanism to carry forward up to a maximum of 7.5 hours of credits from one certificate term to the next.
CE Must Be Related To:
- Knowledge relevant to giving advice about any insurance product or services
- Adjustment of claims
- Knowledge, relevant to the operation of an insurance business
Types of Certificate:
- Life Insurance Certificate – a certificate of authority to act as a life insurance agent
- Accident and Sickness Certificate – a certificate of authority to act as accident and sickness insurance agent
- General Insurance Certificate means a certificate to act as a general insurance agent. General insurance includes any class or property and casualty insurance, other than accident and sickness insurance.
Unique Code Required: Yes
Insurance Council of Manitoba
CE Period: Annual
Deadline: May 31
Requirement:
15 hours CE (maximum of 5 CE credits of the required 15 may be related to segregated funds. Maximum of 5 may include investment–related education if it is directly applicable and relevant to segregated funds.) Life and/or Accident & Sickness – no carry–forwards. General Insurance Licenses — maximum of four hours carry–forwards.
- Must be related to life and accident and sickness insurance products or services, or the operation of an insurance business
- Allowable content would include ethics, errors and omissions coverage, and compliance with insurance-related legislation and regulatory requirements
Insurance Councils of Saskatchewan
CE Period: Annual
Deadline: Commenced upon licensing
Requirement:
Individuals that become licensed for the first time require a minimum of 15 CE per Life Insurance Council Bylaws of continuing education in each annual reporting period. Excess credit hours earned in the reporting period are not eligible for carry–over in to the next reporting period.
For your annual reporting in 2015 and subsequent years, you will be required to earn a minimum of 15 credit hours of continuing education in each annual reporting period.
You Can Comply With Your CE Requirement in One of Two Ways:
- By disclosing a minimum of 30 credit hours of continuing education for the two–year period ending with your 2014 annual reporting date (existing rules).
- By disclosing a minimum of 15 credit hours of continuing education for the one–year period ending with your 2014 annual reporting date (new rules).
For your annual reporting in 2015 and subsequent years, you will be required to earn a minimum of 15 credit hours of continuing education in each annual reporting period.
Only courses that provide technical education are considered to qualify as continuing education, including courses that directly relate to:
- Life or accident and sickness insurance products
- Financial planning, provided that:
- A minimum of 10 of the 15 hours required per year is related to life or accident and sickness insurance (licensees may obtain all hours from this item)
- A maximum of 5 of the 15 hours required per year can be related to non–insurance sectors, such as securities and mutual funds (licensees are not required to obtain hours from this item)
- Compliance with insurance legislation and requirements such as Council’s Code of Conduct (Code of Conduct under development), The Saskatchewan Insurance Act and bylaws made pursuant to that Act, privacy legislation and anti–money laundering and anti–terrorist financing legislation
- Ethics
- Errors and omissions insurance
- Courses leading to an approved designation such as Chartered Life Underwriter (CLU), Chartered Financial Planner (CFP), Registered Financial Planner (RFP), Certified Health Insurance Specialist (CHS) and such other designations as are approved by Council
Mandatory Ethics Training Course:
All resident licensees must within the cycles set out below complete a Life Council approved ethics course that is at least three hours in duration.
- Resident licensees that were licensed on or after January 1, 2013, must within three years of becoming licensed complete an approved ethics course.
- Resident licensees that hold a licence that was issued prior to January 1, 2013, must complete an approved ethics course by their annual reporting date in 2016.
- Resident licensees that have completed the course under (a) or (b) above must complete an ethics course within subsequent five–year cycles.
- Credit hours earned for an ethics course can be applied towards a licensee’s continuing education requirements.
Unique Code Required: No
Chambre de la Sécurité Financière (Quebec)
CE Period: 24–month period
Current Deadline: Dec 1, 2019 to Nov 30, 2021
Requirement:
30 PDUs, apportioned as follows:
- 10 PDUs in General Subjects
- 10 PDUs in Compliance with standards, ethics & professional practice
- 10 PDUs in topics specific to discipline or registration category in which they are authorized to carry on business
PDUs in excess of the 10 PDUs required in specific topics or in compliance with standards, ethics and professional practice are credited as general subject PDUs. The regulation stipulates that PDUs must be accumulated in the following subjects:
- In general subjects
- In Insurance of persons
- In group insurance of persons
- In group savings plan brokerage
- In scholarship plan brokerage
- In compliance with standard, ethics & professional practices
Regulation applies to all representatives who hold an authorized practice in any of the following sector or registration categories:
- Insurance of persons (including the category of accident and sickness insurance) 10 PDUs
- Group insurance of persons (including the categories of group insurance plans and group annuity plans) 10 PDUs
- Group savings plan brokerage 10 PDUs specific to group savings plans broker + 5 PDUs specific to scholarship plan brokerage
- Scholarship plan brokerage 10 PDUs including minimum 5 PDUs to specific plan brokerage
Unique Code Required: Yes
Investment Industry Regulatory Organization of Canada (IIROC)
CE Period: 2–year cycles
Deadline:
Current Cycle: Jan. 1, 2020 to Dec. 31, 2021
Next Cycle: Jan. 1, 2022 to Dec. 31, 2023
Requirement:
- Mandatory Continuing Education (CE) program for member firm registrants who deal with the public. The CE program operates on two–year cycles.
- Individuals registered to do retail business and give advice must complete a Compliance course and a Professional Development course during each cycle. Those who are not registered to do retail business (who deal with institutions only) and those not registered to give advice — such as investment representatives — must complete a Compliance course.
Mutual Fund Dealers Association of Canada (MFDA)
CE Period: 2–year cycles
Deadline: December 1, 2021 to November 30, 2023
Requirement:
- All Participants must complete the required number of credits in each CE cycle. Each cycle will be 2 years in length, starting December 1 of each odd numbered year.
Participants registered as Dealing Representatives must take 30 credits total in each cycle, which is comprised of:
- 8 Business Conduct (BC) Credits. A minimum of 1 and maximum of 2 of these Business Conduct Credits must relate to ethics. A single Business Conduct Credit consists of 1 hour of training in educational material that promotes, directs and guides ethical and compliant conduct. It includes education regarding ethical issues, MFDA Rules and Policies, other applicable legislation, and Member’s policies and procedures for complying with regulatory requirements. This would include topics such as conflicts of interest, Know-Your-Client standard and suitability, and complaint handling.
- 20 Professional Development (PD) Credits. A single Professional Development Credit consists of 1 hour of training in educational material that maintains or enhances an advisor’s financial knowledge or proficiency. This would include topics such as products, financial planning, and investment strategies and asset allocation.
- 2 MFDA Compliance (MC) Credits. These must be obtained by completing continuing education activities specifically created and designated by the MFDA for the purposes of MFDA Compliance Credits.