FPSC Adds Two Alberta Programs to its Roster of Education Providers

June 26, 2001, Toronto – Financial Planners Standards Council (FPSC) Board of Directors approved two new education programs that satisfy the education requirement for the CFP designation at its June 21st meeting. The programs, offered by the Southern Alberta Institute of Technology (SAIT), Calgary, and the Northern Alberta Institute of Technology (NAIT), Edmonton, are the first two Alberta programs registered directly with FPSC. The new programs bring the total number of directly registered programs to 23 offered by 19 different institutions.

Both programs start in the Fall 2001 as part of each school's Continuing Education offerings. Classes will be held in the evening.

"We are pleased to welcome the two Alberta schools," said FPSC President Don Johnston. "The continuing development of post-secondary financial planning programs that are designed to prepare students for the CFP Examination validates the CFP designation as the pre-eminent financial planning designation in Canada."

There are currently 86 programs offered at 65 institutions across Canada that are registered directly with FPSC or have entered into academic partnerships with The Canadian Association of Insurance and Financial Advisors (CAIFA) or The Canadian Institute of Financial Planning (CIFP).

The general requirements for registering a program are:

* The program must be a certificate/degree or professional designation program.
* FPSC requires a statement of objectives for the program.
* The curriculum must contain courses that cover the current CFP Examination syllabus.
* FPSC requires documentation about the qualifications of the educators responsible for developing and/or teaching each course and other components of the program.
* FPSC requires an outline of other resources available to students.

Programs are approved for a three-year term.

Financial Planners Standards Council is a not-for-profit organization dedicated to benefiting the financial planning profession and the Canadian consumer by establishing and enforcing education, examination, experience and ethics requirements for financial planners who choose to earn the CFP designation. FPSC is the Canadian licensor of the internationally recognized CFP certification marks used by 62,000 planners in 15 countries around the world. There are currently about 13,000 planners licensed to use these marks in Canada.