CII unveils RDR qualifications blueprint

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New qualifications for financial advice designed to meet the Retail Distribution Review (RDR) should incorporate three compulsory areas of study and a series of specialist options, the Chartered Insurance Institute (CII) proposes today.

Mandatory areas for level 4 qualifications should be 'fundamental', such as regulation, ethics and taxation, 'products and their uses' and 'personal financial planning', the professional body says in a policy paper. After this, advisers would then select from a range of additional modules to specify their qualification to their area of work. The Financial Services Skills Council (FSSC) will set out the standards for level 4 exams next summer but is not obliged to follow the CII's suggestions. It will then be up to examining bodies to put together papers to meet those standards and adv...

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