Training and competence — the compliance officer's perspective
| Pages | 136-138 |
| Date | 01 February 1997 |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/eb024919 |
| Published date | 01 February 1997 |
| Author | Diana Miller |
| Subject Matter | Accounting & finance |
Journal
of
Financial Regulation
and
Compliance
Volume
5
Number
2
Training and competence — the compliance
officer's perspective
Diana Miller
Received: 22nd January, 1997
Legal & General Assurance Society, Legal and General House, Kingswood, Tadworth, Surrey,
KT20 6EU; tel: 01737 370370; fax: 01737 362977.
Diana Miller is Director (Compliance) of
Legal & General where she has functional
responsibility for all product and service
compliance within the UK business. She is
a graduate of the London School of Eco-
nomics and is a barrister.
ABSTRACT
The purpose of this paper is to examine the
importance
of the PIA's training and
competence
requirements as a means by which a company's
PIA Compliance Officer
can
ensure
advisors
are
being
properly monitored and
are
given advice in
a competent and compliant way. It examines the
importance of the supervisor's role, the need to
move away from prescriptive requirements and
the use which can be made of management infor-
mation
gained from the T&C
scheme.
Although it has long been a regulatory
requirement that advisers on investment
products are trained and competent, since
the Personal Investment Authority (PIA)
introduced its new requirements in October
1995 the importance of training and compe-
tence has grown. It is not only the require-
ment that all advisers pass the full Financial
Planning Certificate (FPC) or equivalent,
and then achieve competent adviser status,
that makes training and competence so rig-
orous,
but also the importance placed on
the role of the supervisor and the ongoing
checks and assessments.
However, in many companies training
and competence is solely the responsibility
of the training department, with compli-
ance frequently fulfilling only a monitor-
ing role. The training and competence
officer will often be completely separate
from the compliance officer and will have
little contact with him or her on a regular
basis.
But is this the right approach?
There is little doubt that training and
competence is an important area for the
compliance officer to become involved in.
To begin with, the whole notion of advi-
sers being skilled and competent and prop-
erly supervised is the basis for general
investor protection — making sure that the
customer receives proper advice from
someone suitably qualified. In addition, the
PIA at their monitoring visits will always
carry out a separate training and compe-
tence audit. Whatever the responsibilities
of the training and competence officer, the
compliance officer's overall responsibility is
to make sure that the company is compli-
ant and it is difficult for the officer to do
that without being confident that the com-
pany is not falling foul of the training and
competence rules.
However, probably the most important
issue for the compliance officer is that
training and competence supervision
almost completely overlaps with the gen-
eral monitoring of advisers which is under-
taken by compliance. Key performance
data, such as persistency, complaints, fact-
find completion and product mix, are all
areas which the training and competence
rules require to be checked by supervisors
to ensure that appropriate training is given
Journal of Financial Regulations
and Compliance. Vol. 5. No. 2.
1997,
pp. 136-138
© Henry Stewart Publications.
1358-1988
Page
136
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