Monthly news: Enhancements to our CPD system

These new enhancements have recently been added to our CPD System:

Focus on topic: Focus on investments - Portfolio construction
Focus on topics will be added on a regular basis, each topic covered includes: key facts, a short audiovisual presentation, multiple-choice assessment and a case study.

1 hour of CPD time is added to your CPD certificate the first time you take the multiple choice assessment and this takes account of the time needed to read the key facts, watch the presentation and take the assessment.

A further 0.5 hours of CPD time is added to your CPD certificate the first time you take the self-marked case study.

Non Wizard Learning/External CPD recording
To record your external CPD, login to your Wizard Learning account, click on the CPD certificate link and then click on the add external CPD link. An easy to use template will be displayed where, for each CPD item, you can input: your development need, activity name, learning outcome, reflective statement, CPD method, CPD type (structured or unstructured), CPD date and CPD time.

All Wizard Learning and external CPD will be stored on our server on a permanent basis. Our flexible CPD recording system allows you to display and export your CPD over any date range and you can also print or export to excel (xlsx or xls) or PDF.

This feature is available to CPD system subscribers and everyone who has created a record by registering on the site.

New CPD system report
We have added a new more detailed CPD system report to the site to ensure that it provides all the information that your accredited body may need regarding the CPD you have completed in our CPD system.

You can use the controls held within the 4 tabs at the top of the CPD certificate page to customise and filter the information displayed. The following notes detail all the reporting features available under the CPD system.

Report Type
There are 4 report types available:

• CPD system report: This is a detailed report for subscribers to our CPD system. This report details and briefly describes the contents of all the CPD completed for the training modules in our CPD system account.
• Summary Report:  A Summary report contains a summary of all estimated hours by assessment
• Detailed Report: All assessments are listed complete with date taken and estimated hours.
• User Entered CPD: This report displays details of CPD you have manually entered only.

Date Range
You can then choose the date range to which the report applies.

Filter Training
You can choose to include or exclude specific learning modules from the report.

Export
You can export the information as Excel (both the older xls format, and the xlsx format found in more recent versions of Microsoft Office) or as a PDF that will be readable on most devices. You can also request that the site email you a copy of the certificate or you can also print the reports using the print facility button or the print function in your browser.

For the CPD system report only there is a tick box on this export tab to allow you to include a generic reflective statement & development need statement to each CPD item in your CPD system report. You can modify the statements by exporting to Excel and amending the wording to reflect your personal experience.

Monthly CPD update in our CPD system
The December CPD monthly update within our CPD system included 47 articles spread over 8 areas of the financial services industry; Compliance & Regulation, Economy, Miscellaneous, Mortgages, Pensions, Protection, Savings & Investments and Taxation & Trusts.

The biggest section for December was compliance and regulation with a total of 10 articles covering a range of items.

One article from the Savings and Investments section that has a potential significant impact for advisers and product providers is summarised below.

The EU is now in final negotiations on tough new disclosure rules for packaged retail investment products.

MEPs are pushing to introduce a “complexity label” for certain products to stop them being targeted at retail investors. It would be applied if certain conditions are met, including; if its risk-reward profile is overly complicated or if retail investors do not normally invest in the assets and would also be needed if the global exposure, measured by its monthly value at risk, is above 20 %. However, the EC and Council of Ministers are against it believing that it could put consumers off buying appropriate products.

The Investment Management Association warns of potential confusion, as there are already differing definitions of complexity under other EU rules such as Mifid. If the proposals go ahead it could meant that advisers and providers could end up providing contradictory disclosure documents.

More information on the discussions will be made available as it becomes known.

CPD system overview - see here for full system details and free trial
Each month, the Wizard Learning CPD Update provides subscribers with 1.5 hours of structured CPD and a 10 question assessment to demonstrate firstly that the CPD activity has taken place and secondly that the information has been absorbed and understood.

For CPD system subscribers, the results of each monthly assessment are automatically recorded on their own personalised CPD Certificate; an official record of completed CPD activity and compliance with the FCA Training and Competence requirements.

Subscribers to the Wizard Learning CPD system are also given access to a range of online ‘test your knowledge packages’ for diploma exams, online courses for diploma exams, our compliance courses and other specialist online courses – Wizard Learning is your ‘one-stop-shop’ for your CPD.

Training modules
The costs and contents of all our training modules can be viewed here.

Wizard Learning Ltd

Provider of award winning online training and CPD system for financial advisers and financial services professionals

We are committed to helping you gain higher level qualifications and maintain this knowledge through effective continuous professional development.