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The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA), in conjunction with the Certified Financial Planner Board of Standards, Inc. (CFP Board), announced today that the CFP Board has authorized continuing education credits (CE) for FINRA e-learning courses offered to all CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNERTM professionals, including those who are registered representatives with FINRA member firms.
Effective immediately, nearly 60 of FINRA’s e-learning courses will be eligible for CE credits for CFP professionals, who must complete a minimum of 30 CE hours every two years as part of the requirements for CFP certification renewal. FINRA administers CE courses through two programs – the Firm Element and the Regulatory Element. The courses available for CFP professionals will be offered through the Firm Element program, which requires broker-dealers to establish a formal training program to keep covered registered persons up to date on job- and product-related subjects. The Regulatory Element program focuses on compliance, regulatory, ethical and sales-practice standards.
FINRA’s courses, which were subjected to a rigorous evaluation and review by the CFP Board’s Council on Education, will enable CFP professionals who are also registered representatives with FINRA to receive CE credits in anti-money laundering, communications with the public, cybersecurity, senior investor issues, insider trading and more. Courses can be found at www.finra.org/elearning.
“Recognizing the large number of registered representatives who are also CFP professionals, we have worked with the CFP Board to expand our e-learning program,” said FINRA President and CEO Robert Cook. “This program reflects FINRA’s efforts to continuously improve the training, compliance tools and other services offered to our registered representatives and firms.”
“The CFP Board and FINRA have a long history of working together to protect investors and ensure compliance,” said Kevin Keller, CFP Board’s Chief Executive Officer. “We are pleased to now have FINRA working with us on this initiative, offering top-notch CE courses that are timely and informative.”
The expanded CE program is just one example of how FINRA is looking for opportunities to enhance services and provide additional resources to key stakeholders. The effort is part of FINRA360, an organizational self-evaluation and improvement initiative aimed at ensuring that FINRA is operating as the most effective self-regulatory organization (SRO) it can be.
