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Chambre de la Sécurité Financière

POLICY ON COMPULSORY PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT ACTIVITIES

To ensure a training activity is in keeping with the principles and criteria set out in the Regulation of the Chambre de la sécurité financière respecting compulsory professional development, every provider must submit an application for recognition to the Department of professional development and quality of practices. To do so, they must fill out Appendix 1 of the Policy on Compulsory Professional Development Activities. The CSF and the Institut québécois de planification financière (IQPF) have an agreement regarding the use of the same form to apply for the recognition of a training activity.

The CSF generally processes an application for recognition of a training activity within a maximum of ten business days following its receipt, provided the application contains the information set out below. The 10-day period does not apply to applications for recognition concerning conventions, university courses, PDUs for writing, teaching or designing courses, or training activities worth more than 10 PDUs.

Information to be included in an application for recognition

The supplier must send the following by e-mail to the CSF or the IQPF for each training activity for which an application for recognition is being submitted:

E-mail address of the CSF: accreditation@chambresf.com
E-mail address of the IQPF: accreditation@iqpf.org

Information to be provided about the provider:

  • The provider’s name and contact information;
  • The type of organization;
  • The name and contact information of the person in charge, i.e. the person the CSF can contact for any question concerning the application for recognition.

Information to be provided about the trainers:

  • The name of each trainer who will be presenting the activity;
  • The curriculum vitae of each trainer;
  • A brief description of each trainer’s experience and knowledge and how it qualifies him to present the training activity.

Summary information to be provided about the training activity:

  • The activity’s title and a brief description of the activity describing the subjects addressed and the objectives;
  • The subjects listed under section 2.1.3 of the Policy on Compulsory Professional Development Activities that will be addressed;
  • The date on which the activity will be offered for the first time. This date will be used to determine the period of validity of the activity’s recognition;
  • The expected duration of the activity, i.e. the number of hours it will last, excluding meal times;
  • The number of PDUs requested for the activity;
  • The activity’s level of difficulty (beginner, intermediate or advanced);
  • The type of training activity (course, distance training, seminar, workshop, presentation, etc.);
  • Whether the activity is open to the public or is strictly in-house;
  • The target market (representatives in insurance of persons, representatives in group insurance of persons, mutual fund dealer representatives, scholarship plan dealer representatives);
  • The regions in which the provider expects to hold the training activity.

Detailed information to be provided about the training activity:

  • The professional knowledge, competencies and skills mentioned in section 2.1.1 of the Policy on Compulsory Professional Development Activities that the training activity will develop as well as how the activity will enable said knowledge, competencies and skills to be developed;
  • The activity’s general objective as well as minimum three specific objectives. The objectives must specify the knowledge and competencies the participant should have acquired at the end of the activity. These objectives must be clearly stated and measurable. They are generally expressed by an action verb describing a measurable behaviour;
  • The learning methods (presentation, workshop, practical exercises, case studies, group discussion, etc.);
  • The method used to evaluate successful completion of the activity, if it is distance training;
  • A description of the pedagogical material that will be used during the activity (handouts, exercise books, PowerPoint presentation, etc.);
  • The activity training plan, detailing the topics and sub-topics addressed as well as the time allocated to each of the topic objectives.
Training Activities Pertaining to Products
It is possible to submit training activities whose entire content pertains to products, provided the activities focus on the product and its characteristics and not on promoting and selling the product.
Training Activities in Compliance With Standards, Ethics or Business Conduct (Compliance)

Although the Regulation of the Chambre de la sécurité financière respecting compulsory professional development does not mention any subjects in compliance, the following are examples of subjects that can be recognized in this category:

  • Notions of ethics, standards of conduct and professional ethics;
  • Code of ethics of the Chambre de la sécurité financière and Regulation respecting the rules of ethics in the securities sector;
  • Decisions of the Disciplinary Committee;
  • Role of the syndic and inquiry process;
  • Role of the Disciplinary Committee and disciplinary process;
  • Compliance notions and programs;
  • Statutory and regulatory obligations of firms, independent representatives and independent partnerships;
  • Statutory and regulatory obligations of representatives;
  • Laws and regulations concerning the practice of members, firms, independent representatives and independent partnerships.

Fees

There are fees for opening and analyzing an application for recognition of a professional development activity. Therefore, every application for recognition must be accompanied by the payment of fees (See Appendix 4 of the Policy on Compulsory Professional Development Activities)

Duration and Modification of the Recognition of a Training Activity

Recognition of a training activity is valid for a period of one single day or of 24 months.

The person responsible for a recognized training activity must submit to the CSF an Application to Modify a Professional Development Activity form if they wish to modify any of the following parameters in one of their activities: 

  • The activity’s description;
  • The activity’s duration;
  • The number of PDUs it gives;
  • The activity’s content (subjects addressed, objectives, etc.);
  • The evaluation method.

There are fees for an application to modify a training activity (see item 4 of Appendix 4 of the Policy on Compulsory Professional Development Activities).

To add or replace a trainer, the person responsible for the recognized training activity will need to email their request at accreditation@chambresf.com and attach a completed Identification of Trainer form. No fees are required for such a modification.

After analyzing the application, the CSF can maintain or cancel recognition of the training activity, or increase or decrease the number of PDUs attributed to the training activity.

The CSF may cancel recognition of a training activity or increase or decrease the number of PDUs attributed to the activity if it becomes known that the activity being provided differs from the activity that was recognized, or if the conditions set out in section 18 or 20 of the Regulation respecting compulsory professional development are not being met. Moreover, the CSF may cease recognizing the future training activities of a provider if it appears that the provider is not respecting the content recognized by the CSF.

Application to modify a professional development activity