In the world of learning and development many of us will be familiar with the long debate about what is meant by competence. Some writers use the word ‘competencies’ to refer to specific behavioural attributes, rather like personal qualities, and in addition  that ‘competence’ is the unique tapestry of behaviours, knowledge and skills which enable us to distinguish a ‘competent’ professional in a measurable way. The two terms therefore have quite distinct meanings and so are not mutually exclusive. However their almost identical spelling has led to much debate on the subject and become a key ingredient in the vocabulary of learning and development, especially in the field of adult learning in the workplace. As a professional body the Securities and Investment Institute believes that competence is that tapestry of knowledge, skills and behaviour which distinguishes a  professional from one who is not yet competent.

SII is focussed on how the professional standards of its members can be developed and maintained so that employers, and ultimately the consumers in financial services, can rely on and value the SII professional member. Fundamentally, if competence is about demonstrating performance that meets the needs of employers, then professional bodies, as well as firms and individuals themselves have a major stake in demonstrating competence.

In the financial services sector we also have the additional and changing role of regulators. Hitherto, in recent years the FSA has directly managed and maintained the lists of those ‘licensed to practice’ in certain job roles through the Approved Persons regime. We know that FSA is reconsidering its approach to try and reduce the burden of regulation on firms without reducing standards and this is therefore a good time for us all to consider, what makes a competent professional, and how do we measure this?  The FSA principles require competence not only to be obtained initially, and currently within two years of entering certain job roles, but also of maintaining competence. As the FSA has historically prescribed how initial competence can be attained, largely through examinations, then naturally firms have met this by ensuring their staff comply with the appropriate examination requirements. With the move to a more principles based approach the industry is reviewing and rediscovering the value of examinations as sector wide ‘benchmark’ standards. At the same time we believe the time is right to explore how competence can be maintained and developed beyond the benchmark examinations which provide the basic ‘knowledge’ component. Can there be other benchmarks which firms can use once examinations have been obtained, so that the;’skills’ and ‘behaviours’ elements of competence can also have objective measures?

Like many other professional bodies SII has always offered a range of seminars for members to enable them to keep up to date. Over the years as the membership base of the Institute has broadened, so the topics and audiences have also changed. In addition the seminars, free to members, have been supplemented by fee paying conferences. Networking has been made easier by the introduction of Professional Forums and in the last eighteen months the original forums in Compliance and Risk have been joined by a further four.

Although the FSA has always specified that firms had to make sure their staff maintained competence, the FSA has never specified how this might be measured or assessed. Firms have, therefore, developed their own means of doing this and in some firms a formal requirement for ‘Continuous Professional Development’ has been set down. For example a firm might require 50 hours of CPD, or 25 hours, or insist that all staff progress through a series of compulsory training courses or ‘e’ briefings in the firms.

SII decided that as a Professional Body as well as a qualifications Awarding Body it is in a unique role to support the industry, especially given its charitable status. Our position is that the competent professional is an individual who combines knowledge, skills and behaviours in such a way as to perform consistently and reliably and that professional membership, including continuous professional development requirements and adherence to a code of conduct regarding ethics at work, is one way forward. We decided to develop a flexible CPD scheme, to be used by individual members, closely linked to a firm’s obligations under T and C, which over time can become a standard to be relied upon by employers, regulators and clients. Many other industry sectors in the economy rely on professional bodies to set appropriate standards for their particular profession; in some instances the value of the professional membership has become recognised in law; for example it is statutory requirement for certain accountants to belong to a professional body, as it is in the legal profession and in many medical related professions.   

What can SII contribute?

The SII’s new CPD  scheme  brings together the true value of continuing learning in a way that enables our members and their employers to use it to satisfy regulators such as the FSA as well as the firms own needs and the individuals own preferences and requirements. As it has been developed for the profession as a whole SII does not just recognise its own activities.

Launched in late June, there are some unique features to position it at the leading edge for individual members.  It is largely on-line and includes a log-in recording system which automatically logs any SII contributing activity to save our members’ time, within 48 hours of the activity. A wide range of activities relating to training providers and other professional bodies is recognised and in many instances these organisations have paid for automatic links to their websites and use of the distinctive logo. Organisations include The London Stock Exchange, The London Business School, Complinet, as well as leading training providers already familiar to examination candidates, 7City and BPP. However our most innovative aspects are aimed at firms, as most of individual membership subscription is paid by employers and we believe it is crucial to support them as they meet their obligations under FSA T and C requirements.  For example there is ‘Superuser’ access for HR or Training staff to access the records of their staff using the system. There is provision for SII to accredit a firm’s own scheme if it exists so that members do not need to use the SII log-in mechanism.  These features are free of charge to firms which become corporate members.

In order to make the scheme as accessible as possible we give guidance on the type of learning that members can use. Traditional seminars, conferences and training courses are classified as active learning and this `provides a core ingredient; in addition we also recognise ‘reflective’ learning from activities which are not as measurable participative as training courses, such as company briefings. We do include reading in the ‘self directed’ category as that is a valid source of learning for everyone. The final category is the unusual one; we include ‘development of others’  as we believe that whenever anyone plans an induction, presents at a seminar or writes examination questions, they are keeping themselves up to date and learning as well as contributing to others.  In order to make this scheme as flexible as possible we include minimum and maximum hours that can be claimed around the recommendation to undertake 35hours.  An example of how this might work for an individual is shown below  together with a summary of our requirements  .Next year we will be evaluating the first year of our scheme; we will be delighted to receive feedback and hope that it will indeed make a valuable contribution towards  the measurable development of competent professionals for  the industry. 

Following is an example of how a member can gain 35 CPD hours through SII and non SII CPD activities:
2 day BPP or 7 City training course	12	Active
Sat & passed SII Reg. and Comp. paper	8	Active
Conference on MiFID	6	Active
SII Compliance PIF	1.5	Active
Accessed SII Infolink	1.5	Reflective
Read S&I Review	1	Self Directed
Inducted a new member of staff	2	Dev. others
Presented at a CPD seminar	3	Dev. others
	Total =35 hours CPD

The SII CPD Scheme has been created around the concept of 4 key learning types.  Activities in all 4 areas must be logged in order to achieve a year of successfully logged CPD but the weighting for the elements differ.
CPD Learning Type	Maximum Claimable Hours	Min Claimable Hours
Active	30	1
Reflective	15	1
Self Directed	5	1
Development of Others	20	1

click here for a PDF brochure of the SII CPD scheme

August 2006