Qualified financial advisor qualification.

lalababa

I was looking into doing a course in QFA. It costs 1800 with no lectures just exams. Legislation has it that anybody in the finacial sector must be somewhat trained in certain stuff and the industry standard is the QFA. I you want to work in banking, insurance etc. you MUST have this qualification. Does anybody know if there is any compedition in facilitating QFA accreditations. Is it a closed shop? 1800 seems high for 6 books and six exams.

368100

lalababa wrote: »

I was looking into doing a course in QFA. It costs 1800 with no lectures just exams. Legislation has it that anybody in the finacial sector must be somewhat trained in certain stuff and the industry standard is the QFA. I you want to work in banking, insurance etc. you MUST have this qualification. Does anybody know if there is any compedition in facilitating QFA accreditations. Is it a closed shop? 1800 seems high for 6 books and six exams.

I did mine in 2008 and there were lectures, but I think these are webinars now. €300 per module sounds about right, think it was 225 when I did it but that's nearly 10 years ago. This is reasonable enough, I'm doing chartered banker now which has only 2 lectures per module and it's €1100 per module . The QFA isnt mandatory for all roles, mostly for customer interaction roles, a lot of back office roles would be exempt but may have other requirements like compliance.

The APA is just 3 modules out of the 6 and fulfils the minimum requirements for a lot of roles. You need to do loans, savings and investments and regulation to get this, though I'd advise doing the full QFA as it will open more options for you.

Kimbot

MOD Moved to Work and Jobs as it would be more appropriate here.

Are you in the area already or hoping to get into it?

murphyebass

Personally I'd try and get into the financial institution and get them to pay for it. This is what I did many moons ago.

It used to be seen as a somewhat decent qualification.
It's really the bog standard nowadays if you're going to be in the industry whether you "need" it or not.

Generally companies will take you on without it and give you x amount of time to get it.

Obviously you'll be able to be able to command a better pay packet with it but when you get it you could move.

Also I'm assuming you're new to the industry.

Ohmeha

With the Institute of Banking it's €295 per module plus an annual study fee of about €50, you get your book, online lectures/materials and exams covered in that 295.

You can have a APA designation by completing Regulation with one of Loans, Pensions, Investments or Life Assurance

If you're currently working in retail bank it's a good idea to do it and most banks will pay your fees if you ask them, you could do one module at time and have it completed in two years. You pretty much have to have the QFA now for any customer interaction role, it's certainly not essential for back-office roles and other courses may be more compatible, but if you're in a back-office role in a retail bank having the QFA would keep doors open for you in terms of movement and resulting potential career progression

10 years or so ago having the QFA got some people decent jobs, now it's becoming the bare essential qualification for retail banks that most people will end up having.