CE Requirements

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.

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:

(1) 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

(2) 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:

    (1) Teaching/presenting
    (2) Research/writing articles
    (3) Self-study
    (4) Participation on industry task forces/committees

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. 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.

For more information, please visit iafe.ca or view our CE FAQ here http://www.iafe.ca/pdf/CE-FAQ.pdf

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, one credit 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.

For more information, please visit iafe.ca or view our CE FAQ here http://www.iafe.ca/pdf/CE-FAQ.pdf

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.

For more information, please visit iafe.ca or view our CE FAQ here http://www.iafe.ca/pdf/CE-FAQ.pdf

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.

For more information about the CE Accreditation service, please click here.

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.

• Education must relate to technical aspect of life insurance. Technical for this purpose include 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.
• The Insurance Act defines life insurance to include accidental death, insurance, disability insurance and annuities

Unique Code Required: No

CE Period: Annual

Deadline: May 31

Requirement:

• Life or A&S agent, have approved designation (CFP, CLU, RHU, FCIA, FLMI and CEBS) – 5 Technical hours of continuing education
• Licensed for 5–7 years, no approved designation – 10 Technical hours
• Licensed less than 5–7 years, no approved designation – 15 Technical hours
• Excess credits cannot be carried over into the next licence period

Life Technical Relates To:

• Life insurance products
• Financial planning, provided the education is geared to life insurance and not a non–insurance sector such as securities or mutual funds
• Compliance with insurance legislation and requirements such as Council's Code of Conduct, Council Rules, the Insurance Act, privacy legislation and anti–terrorism/money laundering legislation
• Ethics
• E&O

A&E Technical Relates To:

• A&S insurance products
• Compliance with insurance legislation and requirements such Council's Code of Conduct, Council Rules, the Insurance Act and privacy legislation Ethics
• E&O

Unique Code Required: No

CE Period: Annual

Deadline: July 1^st to June 30^th

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

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

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:

1. 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).

2. 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

CE Period: 24–month period

Current Deadline: Dec 1, 2013, to Nov 30, 2015

Next Deadline: Dec 1, 2015 to Nov 30, 2017

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

CE Period: 3–year cycles

Deadline: Cycle 5: 2011–2014

Requirement:

• Mandatory Continuing Education (CE) program for member firm registrants who deal with the public. The CE program operates on three–year cycles. All registrants are on the same schedule: the first cycle began on January 1, 2000, and ended on December 31, 2002; the next three–year cycle began on January 1, 2003, and ended December 31, 2005, and so on.
• 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.
• If you have been continuously licensed for more than 15 years as of January 1, 2000, then you will complete only the Compliance portion of the program during each cycle. If you have been continuously licensed for more than 10 but less than 15 years as of January 1, 2000, you will complete the full program of two courses for one three–year cycle. After completing this cycle, you will be required to complete only the Compliance portion of the program thereafter. If you are registered in more than one trading category, you are responsible for the CE requirements of the more demanding category.
• The Compliance course will require a minimum of 12 hours, and the Product Knowledge/Professional Development course will require a minimum of 30 hours of study. The timeframe in which to complete these courses is three years.
• Carry-forward not applicable

Unique Code Required: Yes for non-dealers