Courses
Financial Advice Series
12.5 CPD HoursShow More 
1
FAP 1 Treating Customers Fairly
Financial service firms must ensure they are TREATING CLIENTS AND CUSTOMERS fairly across the whole business. It comes down to culture. TO GET THIS RIGHT you need to focus on FOUR key areas of your business: Senior Management: reviews highest level reports available in the firm on fair treatment of clients for all business conducted by firm Business management and processes that drive business controls throughout enterprise Product service area covering product development/products selected to be marketed by firm provided by other enterprises, sales, advice, claims handling and complaints unit Client experience of firm or group checked by mystery shopping, client surveys, review of client enquiries and peer group observations Upon conclusion of this CPD you will have gained a full understanding what you need to do for yourself and for your firm to ensure clients are looked after in a manner that doesn’t put them at a disadvantage leading to regulatory censure.2
FAP 2 Duties and Liabilities
In this CPD the focus is on your liabilities you will incur when providing financial advice. Sections 431L to 431R of the Financial Markets Conduct Act 2013 (FMC Act) set out the core duties with section 431H specifying who is responsible if duties are breached and nature of that person’s liability. Section 449 of the FMC Act sets out the maximum penalties for breaches of duties. Section 495 provides for courts to order compensation to aggrieved parties. You will cover the two key areas of : Duties for all who give financial advice including FAPs, FAs and NRs Liability for financial advice providers (FAPs)3
FAP 3 Ethics and Integrity + CRM
Ethics and acting with integrity forms part of the Code covering your relationship with your clients under Financial Services Legislation Amendment Act 2019 (FSLAA) as a regulatory demand standard. “What ethics training achieves is the legitimisation of the ethics conversation. Perhaps the most significant outcome is that employees learn how to recognise the ethical content of the problems they are addressing and the ethical consequences of the actions they take. They also have a more thorough understanding of the issues and are thus better able to present and defend their positions from an ethical as well as a pragmatic perspective”. Source OICU-IOSCO4
FAP 4 Care Diligence and Skill
In this CPD unit you will cover the importance of applying Care, Duty and Skill in all your dealings with your clients. You must keep your skills up to date to be able to deliver on your duty of care. Case studies help you understand what is expected and how it is applied. You will consider what skills financial advisers need and the two legs of DUE DILIGENCE on financial products being able to identify the critical legal risks in all contracts and their performance.5
FAP 5 Prescribed Information Disclosure Requirements +CRM
Prescribed Information Disclosures are mandatory. Expected information to be displayed on a website must cover licence information, nature, scope of advice, duties, personal information, applications (APPs), use of information, use of client data, disclosure covering fees, conflicts of interest and cyber security. Scope of service over advice given to clients enabling them to make fully informed decisions, how conflicts of interest are managed along with suitability, and limitations must be considered when designing and implementing your client proposition.6
FAP 6 False, Misleading, Statements Omissions + CRM
Important to exemplifying good conduct and behaviour over financial promotions. You must not disguise or misrepresent purpose or provide false indicators. Hereagain, cases studies are used to help you understand what your responsibilities and accountabilities are and what happens when even the most established of insurance companies gets it wrong. You will look at FMA action (July 2023) against Forestlands sole director, Rowan Kearns, sentenced for making false statements and financial reporting offences7
FAP 7 Complaints + CRM
The simplest of enquiries can easily morph into complaint resulting in reputational risk leading to regulatory censure. Client enquiry capture, logging and a robust complaints management process must be in place. Keeping client service colleagues informed of issues that may derail a client relationship is paramount. All firms must subscribe to an external complaints resolution system. Price: $350 + GST
Commercial Lending Series
3.5 CPD HoursShow More
1
CL1 Business Analysis and Plans
This module helps commercial lenders build a portfolio of loans which will earn a fair and reasonable return for the risks they are accepting. Subjects covered are designed to help lenders recognise and understand the needs of their clients, while at the same time recognizing the risk factors inherent in the client’s business.2
CL2 Marketing
This module looks at ways a commercial lender can develop a marketing plan, prepare for cold calls, develop a relationship management plan for customers, needs analysis and ways of overcoming objections including the finance company barrier. This module includes a summary of legislative requirements affecting lenders.3
CL3 Industry Risk Analysis
Industry Risk analysis provides the foundation for understanding the customer and the business they are in. A commercial lender must be aware of the size of the industry sector, the maturity of the industry and the supply and operating constraints affecting industry participants. A lender must understand the regulatory framework, the environmental constraints and the development of technology affecting the industry. This understanding should help you identify how the customer fits into the sector and what are the key success factors i.e. what makes the customer different to others?4
CL4 Profit and Liquidity
Profitability usually means “maximizing the value of the business to the owners (shareholders)”. Long term survival needs profits. You want to know what is happening to profitability and what the longer-term outlook is. Things that need investigating include cost structure (compared with similar businesses), variations from previous years, unexpected one-off events, changes in trends, accounting treatment of certain costs e.g., owners’ salaries. All businesses are different.5
CL5 Business Investment and Cashflow
You must consider whether the business is investing sufficiently to ensure its future viability. The amount of investment depends on the degree of mechanization and technology in the industry. If a business is capital intensive, an estimate of how well the business is managing for the future can be approximated by the depreciation charge for the year or you can use the replacement ratio.6
CL6 Loan Management
A commercial lender needs to know what to do if a loan in their portfolio is not performing as expected. However, we assume the initial loan decision was sound. You start with some RULES OF LENDING. These RULES were compiled by a highly respected lending manager with many years’ experience of working in the commercial lending sector.7
CL7 Property Lending
TheCouYou will learn how to evaluate property risk, either lending to commercial property development proposals or taking commercial property as security. It does start at the basics so is suitable for younger lenders just starting out. As a lender you need to understand the value of the property and to understand how the property will generate cashflow.rseInfo Price: $350 + GST
Insurance Broking
2 CPD HoursShow More
1
IB1 Insurance Broking Part I
Why do people take out insurance policies? Buying insurance is important for your clients. It ensures they are financially secure to face any type of problem in life which confronts them. It is all about risk mitigation. Providing insurance products and services covers the main areas of Insurance premiums, policies and managing complaints. A dispute resolution schemes needs to be in place in cases where there has been a significant breach and Fair Insurance Code 2020. You need to understand insurance companies’ accounting and economics to grasp how risk is priced. Example is Pacific insurance pricing (inc. NZ) where during the reporting year major programs underwent substantial restructuring of layers as underwriters changed their appetite for excess layers. You need to have a knowledge of Global Insurance Markets, the New Zealand insurance industry leading players, products delivered, premiums, claims, loss ratios, business costs, and combined ratios. A flow chart takes you through a simplified client policy on-boarding and expected, pre/post-sale insurance broker services.2
IB2 Insurance Broking Part 2
What does a typical insurance broker do? The role includes gathering client information, researching providers for best price. Important to future proof your clients ensuring that they fully understand terms extent of cover provided. You need to advise clients on whether and/or when they need to claim on policies. Some risks require specialised types of insurance cover due to their complexity. You need to know how to acquire, build and maintain those all-important client relationships. People often forget in times of stress if they have no clients, they have no business! Administrative tasks need to be carried out to the highest of standards to reduce the risk of error and loss. Relationships with underwriters, surveyors, photographers + other professionals along with keeping up-to-date with changes insurance market and clients' industries concludes a virtuous circle. Price: $300 + GST
Mortgage Broking
2 CPD HoursShow More
1
MB1Mortgage Broking 1
People use mortgages to buy their home where a family does not have sufficient resources to buy the property outright. There are tax advantages in taking out a mortgage along with assured asset class advantages when investing in domestic property market. As one investment guru said, “buy land they don’t make it anymore!” Some firms call this a credit product service and being a “provider of dreams”. This CPD covers the size and scope of NZ residential mortgage market, mortgage products, mortgage mechanics, industry players and all important borrower risk assessment.2
MB2 Mortgage Broking 2
People don’t by design run into service issues on their mortgage. Problems start to arise when households borrow amounts that are disproportional to their means. During unfavourable macroeconomic conditions, where unemployment rates rise and household assets depreciate in value, such a tendency may result in an inability to pay off loans. At the same time the market loses confidence in assets that have been used to secure such loans and the setbacks incurred can be traced back as one of the main sources of past financial crises. As a broker you need to be able to spot the early warning signs of borrower distress. Foreclosure is the last resort of lender, and all alternatives are considered before that final step is taken. You need to work with the lending institution you placed your client’s business to come up with mutually acceptable loss mitigating solution3
MB3 Mortgage Broking 3
It comes down to the question of affordability. What is lender’s trying to achieve when they carry out a prospective borrower’s analysis? Can the borrower afford to service the loan at current interest rates and what income loan service buffer is there to manage an increase in such rates? A loan underwriter will consider the following when carrying out a client year-on-year income and expense review such as gross income, expenses, taxable income for a business and determine (on a yearly or interim basis) percentage of gross income attributed to expenses and taxable income. You need to understand how credit scoring works and be able to explain this to your client. As a responsible lender you need to have a sound knowledge and how to apply the Responsible Lending Code. You will be introduced to the three methods of valuation essential to appraise collateral suitability. Price: $300 + GST
Financial Adviser Quality Assurance
3 CPD HoursShow More
1
FAP Thirty-five key performance indicators
What you can’t measure you can’t control. In this CPD you will be introduced to thirty-five key performance indicators essential for a contemporary financial advisery firm. The pressure is on for all parties in the investment value chain to act in the best interests of their clients at all times. For many professionals, these laudable aims are a given and have formed part of their qualification to operate. Providing financial advice and managing investments are always challenging as the client wants you to not lose them any money whilst providing them with opportunities to grow their wealth. Since the global financial crisis and indeed before there have been a plethora of codes of conduct issued by regulators, trade associations, and bankers’ central bank and others. Fundamentally good behaviour, operational standards, transparency, financial prudence, integrity, and honesty should be inherent to all financial service practitioners from the CEO down to the entry level graduate. Looking after the client “putting your client first” is the overwhelming regulatory focus and must be the same for your firm. Due diligence on all aspects of the relationship from advisers, asset managers, custodian banks, lenders, and infrastructure essential to deliver the client outcomes is an essential requirement. Maintaining and keeping meticulous, detailed, and up-to-date client records so transactions and advice situations can be recreated in case of regulatory investigation go with the territory. From share broking, advisery and fund management perspectives, trading without justification to generate commissions, IPO adverse behaviour over conflicts of interest, and market manipulation need to be avoided at all costs. Risk management systems should detect when there are risks that these negative relationship and negative compliance actions may occur before any likely event. Finally taking an overall risk assessment of any business is a necessary requirement by FAs, FAPs and clients to ensure that any business recommended is fit for purpose, well-funded, with enough expertise and deliver………. Price: $350 + GST
