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Home 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:
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:
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:
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) 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.
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:
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.
CE Period: Annual
Deadline: May 31
Requirement:
Reminder – What’s Changed from Previous Requirements:
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:
Types of Certificate:
Unique Code Required: Yes
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:
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:
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.
Unique Code Required: No
CE Period: 24–month period
Current Deadline: Dec 1, 2019 to Nov 30, 2021
Requirement:
30 PDUs, apportioned as follows:
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:
Regulation applies to all representatives who hold an authorized practice in any of the following sector or registration categories:
Unique Code Required: Yes
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:
CE Period: 2–year cycles
Deadline: December 1, 2021 to November 30, 2023
Requirement:
Participants registered as Dealing Representatives must take 30 credits total in each cycle, which is comprised of:
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