Experienced practitioners in the private client advisory sector can take heart from results released by the Chartered Institute for Securities & Investment (CISI), which show that age is no hindrance when it comes to passing exams.
The majority of the most recent batch of successful candidates who sat the CISI Certificate in Private Client Investment Advice & Management (PCIAM) were aged over 40, and more than 20 per cent were in their 50s.
The PCIAM is a higher-level qualification suitable for existing advisers seeking to meet the FSA step change requirement under the Retail Distribution Review (RDR).
Some older candidates not only passed the exam but achieved a Merit. They include broker Iain Hallifax, 58, and investment manager Graeme Hatch, 42 (pictured), both from Charles Stanley.
Graeme said: “The last time I sat an Institute exam was almost 20 years ago, so I had some misgivings about doing this Certificate.”
Ian Hart, 52, an investment director at Unbiased Financial Analysis, also passed. He said he had been “extremely nervous” about taking the PCIAM, but that attending the CISI’s RDR preparation session had been helpful.
CISI managing director Ruth Martin said candidates who had not sat an exam for some time were understandably nervous about taking the PCIAM. She said: “We want to get the message across to these advisers that they have a lot of knowledge that they have acquired through years of experience and that knowledge can be applied in an exam setting.”
The FSA’s RDR proposals involve raising the minimum level of mandatory qualification for those involved in selling financial services to the public from level 3 to level 4. Existing advisers must meet the requirements by the end of 2012.
New exam standards are being developed, but both the FSA and Financial Services Skills Council have confirmed that PCIAM, at level 6, is a qualification that may be taken up to the end of the transition period.
For more information about PCIAM, see Professional Programmes within the Qualifications section at cisi.org
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