CFA Society South Africa offers locally approved content to investment industry professionals

In June 2018, under the Financial Advisory and Intermediary Services (FAIS) Act, the Financial Sector Conduct Authority of SA implemented compulsory requirements for continuous professional development (CPD) credits.

This was part of a drive to professionalise and standardise the ongoing education and training undertaken by organisations in the financial and investment industry. 

Though many organisations had their own requirements such as the continuing education credits required by the CFA Institute, and offered various training courses, workshops, seminars and conferences at the time, there was no framework to consistently measure and record each organisation’s credits, and no standardised way of assigning credits or measuring learning and improvement in understanding.

In the following months, a side industry has developed in SA, offering approved CPD credits, as investment professionals and advisers scrambled to achieve the required 18 verifiable CPD credits before the first deadline of May 31 2019.

Unfortunately, many of the credits on offer fell under the banner of product training, which is often just a poorly disguised marketing strategy for product houses. There is little independent thought-leadership content on offer, something at which CFA Society South Africa excels. Unfortunately, CPD credits had to be verified by an approved local provider, so at the outset, the comprehensive body of knowledge offered by the CFA Institute was not considered approved content. 

This created a great opportunity for the CFA Society South Africa to step into the gap and offer locally approved, quality content, not only for its own members but also for other investment industry professionals. CFA Society South Africa became an accredited CPD provider through the Financial Planning Institute.

The CFA Society South Africa now offers in-person events (using picture identification, attendees have to register and sign in and out) and online offerings (after viewing a webinar, attendees have to answer questions to show their understanding of the content).

Due to the large geographic footprint of its member base, the SA society covers all of the Southern African Development Community, an area of almost 120,000 km². 

An exciting milestone for the CFA Society South Africa has been the introduction of a local society membership on September 1 2019. A major part of the value proposition for this membership is the guaranteed minimum of 18 hours of CPD credits required by the FAIS Act.

In its most recent member survey, the society reported a specific increase (between February 2019 and August 2019) in questions relating to CPD, as follows:

• How do you rate the CFA Society South Africa’s provision of CPD services? Scores of four and five (good and excellent) increased from 50% to 62%.
• Do you think your membership offers good value for money? Scores of four and five increased from 40% to 50%.

CFA Society South Africa’s believes that these improvements, measured over a mere six months, are largely attributable to the progress the organisation has made in the offering and recording of verifiable, quality CPD content.

This article was paid for by CFA Society South Africa.