<strong>By: </strong><b>Richard Rattue, Managing Director of Compli-Serve</b>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">Those in the financial services industry will be familiar with the acronym CPD – Continuous Professional Development points are an annual requirement that must be met by all FSPs, key individuals and representatives, and there are various means of achieving them. </span>

<strong><i>First things first, how many points must be earned in a cycle? </i></strong>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">The answer lies in how many classes and subclasses an adviser is registered for. </span>

<ul>

<li style="font-weight: 400;"><span style="font-weight: 400;">If rendering a single subclass of business within a single class of business per CPD cycle, only 6 hours need to be earned.</span></li><li style="font-weight: 400;"><span style="font-weight: 400;">If more than one subclass of business is rendered in one cycle, 12 hours of CPD activities will be needed</span></li><li style="font-weight: 400;"><span style="font-weight: 400;">For those who have more than one class of business, 18 hours are required. </span></li>

</ul>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">The annual CPD cycle runs from 1 June to 31 May, so the next deadline arrives in just a few months’ time.  CPD is one of the hallmarks of every reputable profession, and helps individuals to enhance their abilities, skills and knowledge on an ongoing basis.</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">As per the new Fit & Proper requirements, CPDs earned should be relevant to the job you do, in support of continuous learning to improve your skills and up the knowledge needed to work in the industry. </span>

<strong><i>How can advisers get the CPDs they need? </i></strong>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">A ‘CPD activity’ must be verified by a professional body who also allocates an hourly value to the activity. These don’t include any activities around product-specific training when studying for a qualification, but ‘class of business’ training would count. </span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">Another example would be subscribing to CompliNEWS, which includes a weekly newsletter from Compli-Serve SA and Juta, accredited by both the Financial Planning Institute (FPI) and the Compliance Institute of Southern Africa (CISA) as a ‘CPD activity’. </span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">There are various industry events that can be attended too, and advisers would be wise to keep an eye on the time as the end of May approaches.</span>