Nigel Pamment, senior mortgage consultant at Inspirational Financial Management Ltd, contacted Mortgage Introducer in frustration after not receiving any of the certificates and has contacted Expo organisers Clarion Events and the Institute of Financial Services (ifs) on numerous occasions to no avail.
He said: “The main reason I went to this event was to attend as many CPD-accredited seminars as possible so I have enough CPD for FSA requirements and to keep up-to-speed with the industry. When chasing up the certificates Clarion told me to contact ifs and ifs told me to contact Clarion with neither seeming to know the answer.
“I’ve been going round in circles. What’s the point in having these roadshows for the CPD-accredited seminars, which are the main reason we go, if we can’t get the certificates?”
Mark Roberts, head of faculty, financial regulation at ifs, explained that, since MI’s interjection, it had been in contact with Pamment to clarify the situation but said ifs was unaware of any agreement with Clarion to supply the accredited certificates.
He said: “With regards to the offer of earning CPD hours from attending seminars at the exhibition in question, we have advised the event organiser that this reference is now incorrect and should not be included in any of its future marketing material for that or any other event.”
Andy White, portfolio director at Clarion Events, said: “We did receive authority from ifs prior to the event stating intermediaries could earn CPD points by attending seminars. At the time of the Expo this was still the case. We certainly had no intention of misleading intermediaries attending the event and as such will review our policy concerning this matter in the future.”
