From 14th January, or I-Day as industry insiders know it, any business involved with selling or administrating insurance policies must either be FSA authorised or networked with an authorised firm. A firm doing business without authorisation will face criminal proceedings that can result in a fine or a prison sentence.
“As well the usual suspects, a number of other businesses are set to fall under the FSA’s regime for the first time,” says Paul Fegan, CEO of Absolutely Training. “We make the process simple for them by partnering with industry leaders to add world class content to our flexible and cost-effective solution. Our ability to translate regulatory jargon into easily understood and accessible courses means our customers can dodge unwanted deadline-day drama.”
A whole raft of businesses must consider their regulatory and training requirements. In today’s market, consumers are not restricted to established lenders and brokers: organisations as diverse as jewellers, estate agents, doctors and travel agents are all set to fall under the regulatory microscope.
Designed to help all operations of all sizes involved in general insurance, the course delivers tailored training for a variety of job roles and aims to give staff a good understanding of the practical requirements of the FSA rulebook. Staff must pass modules underpinned by a dynamic question and answer system that ensures true understanding, rather than a memory test, of regulatory issues.
The system retains records to prove that the right people have taken the right training at the right time. These records can be presented as evidence to the FSA as proof of compliance upon request.
The course is consistent with all the criteria set out in Chapter 2 of the FSA’s Training and Competence sourcebook, and responds to detailed rules and guidance about recruitment, training, attaining and maintaining competence, supervising and record keeping.
Mark Harper, compliance manager of Pink Home Loans, says: “We’ve just taken our own network and a group of FSA authorised IFAs through Absolutely Training’s mortgage course and it’s proved to be an operational and commercial success. We’ve already signed up to the insurance course and it will play a significant role in our I-Day compliance strategy.”
