Keeping your promises

Steve Jenkins, financial services director of the CII, said that as a not-for-profit organisation, the CII needs to charge at the level it does to maintain high learning standards. He said: "If you compare that CII cost to paying for the first year of doing a university degree, which it is equivalent to, I would say that it bears scrutiny."

While university costs vary depending on the course taken and the university, the equivalent one year’s study of a degree at the Open University, using distance learning, costs on average £1400, which can be paid in monthly instalments and includes all learning material. Incidentally, the ifs School of Finance Certificate for Financial Advisers, which is equivalent to the CII’s certificate in Financial Planning costs £540, including 12 months registration, a learning manual and exam entry. Additional learning resources can cost from £17 to £166.

Mr Jenkins said: "The profits are reinvested for additional services, more examiners, new qualifications, and in the case of the PFS, to invest in its continuous personal developement programe. We are absolutely not profiteering off the back of the RDR. The QCA will not want any diluting of our standards at all. We need to make sure the quality and depth of our learning support does bear scrutiny from a learning perspective. That has to be invested into. Our only stakeholders are our members. The way we cost our services is designed to preserve that quality."

Another issue that has cropped up thanks to the RDR is that of the 'can’t change, won’t change' IFA. Those that may have decades of experience and run profitable and professional businesses but whom for a number of reasons - such as approaching retirement age - do not wish to go back to pouring over textbooks and pitting their wits in examination settings.

Anecdotally, this appears to be another area to experience a sea-change in opinion. With the latest RDR update published, the stance against this group has hardened, to be replaced with nonchalance.

Mr Cann said: "There is enough clarity and consistency of message from the RDR over the last two years that if some advisers have not changed their business model and reject higher qualifications then they will get what they deserve."

However, the FSA has signalled that there may be the opportunity for existing experienced advisers to demonstrate the requisite minimum levels of competence and knowledge through a rigorous on the job assessment, as an alternative to examinations, so even this perceived barrier to industry evolution may not be as fixed and cumbersome as some had feared.

Anna Lawlor is senior features writer for Financial Adviser